


One In Ten Million

by craigtrash



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Famous Liam, M/M, Twitter, ordinary zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-07 16:48:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1122200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/craigtrash/pseuds/craigtrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>University student Zayn Malik is a big fan of One Direction, world famous boy band, especially member Liam Payne. When Liam accidentally tweets his phone number, Zayn takes a chance that changed his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**@Harry_Styles:** Lux dropped my phone in the pool today. Need numbersssss x  
 **@Real_Liam_Payne:** +44 20 555 1730*

Zayn stared at the screen of his phone in disbelief. There was no way that Liam Payne just tweeted his own phone number. He wondered if he realized it as his fingers began to dial the numbers into his phone. He felt silly that he was actually considering calling the famous band member but it seemed like his fingers had a mind of their own because before he could stop himself, he had hit 'call' and he heard his phone ringing. Zayn held his breath, his mind going over the possible scenarios that could happen. It could be the wrong number, first and foremost. It was very unlikely that Liam would have actually thought it was a good idea to tweet his real number to nearly ten million followers. It could be his number and Liam wouldn't answer. That was pretty likely since Zayn was usually wary about answering phone calls from unknown numbers so he would imagine that Liam would be too. It was possible that he'd get angry since Zayn had a hard time believing that he was the only one doing just this. He wasn't just one in a million, he was one in ten million and ten million phone calls would cause any person to freak out. No matter how many scenarios his brain tried to prepare him for, he wasn't ready for the "Hello?" that came from the receiver.

Zayn knew that voice. He recognized it from the numerous interviews and performances videos he watched over the years. This voice belonged to no other than Liam Payne, he was sure of it. He was freaking out a bit, but he knew if he didn't speak soon Liam would hang up on him and Zayn could miss the one chance he'll ever get to talk to his not-so-small celebrity crush. "Liam?" he said when his mouth seemed to work finally. "Um, you don't know me but um, you might want to check your Twitter. I think you meant to send a direct message to Harry and accidentally tweeted it instead?"

There was some shuffling in the background and he could swore he heard Liam murmur 'shit' and 'fuck' a few times before there was a sign on the other end. "I can't believe I'm so stupid," he said. "That's probably why I've received what seems to be a million incoming calls since answering this one and fuck, my phone is blowing up. So stupid."

Zayn couldn't help but chuckle as Liam continued to mutter how stupid he was. "Could have been worse, mate," he said. "Could have answered the phone and had some eleven year old girl sobbing to you."

That earned a chuckle from Liam which made Zayn's heart fucking _soar_ , not that he'd admit that. He'd like to think he was nothing like most fans, starting with the fact that he wasn't female. He also liked to believe he wouldn't freak out completely if he ever got a chance like this and he was doing a damn good job _thank you very much_. Liam hadn't told him to 'fuck off' or hung up on him yet and he even got a chuckle out of him so Zayn figured he was doing pretty good. "Yes, this is much better than that," he agreed. "I get enough of that just walking outside. What did you say your name was, again?"

"I don't think I did," Zayn said. "But I'm Zayn."

"Well thank you so much, Zayn. You saved me from what could have been a very unpleasant experience. Hate to make our call short but I need to change my number as soon as possible but thanks again!"

They said goodbye and when he hung up, Zayn looked at his phone completely dumbfounded. He actually just spoke to Liam Payne. _The_ Liam Payne. Granted, it wasn't a very long conversation but Liam-fucking-Payne spoke to him and knows his name. Of course, he had no idea what Zayn looked like but fuck it was better than nothing. He fell back on his bed, trying to figure out how life was supposed to go on when probably one of the best things in his life had just occurred. He sighed and went to check his Twitter to see if Liam was able to delete the troublesome tweet. The tweet was gone just as expected, but there was also a new Tweet a the top of his feed.

**@Real_Liam_Payne:** Ahhh cant believe I tweeted my number. Stupid stupidd boy. Changing it now! Thank you zayn for letting me know!!! :)

Okay, it was possible that Zayn was freaking out now. That was his name. In Liam-fucking-Payne's tweet. He was allowed to freak out a little bit, right? He clicked to open the tweet and saw that it already had a few hundred fans who were either upset that they missed the chance to have Liam's number or asking who Zayn was. His finger was hovering over the reply button as he thought of a good response that didn't come off too strong. "You're thinking about this too much," he mumbled to himself. "This isn't that big of a fucking deal." He hit the reply button and typed a response that seemed nonchalant but friendly.

**@zaynmalik:** @Real_Liam_Payne no problem, mate. Great talking to you ! x 

He hit send and smiled at down at his phone. It was a long shot that Liam was even going to see his tweet among the thousands of other fans that were responding to that tweet but just a few minutes after he sent it, his phone lit up with a Twitter notification:

**Real_Liam_Payne is now following you!**

Before his brain could truly catch up to what those words meant, Zayn jumped from his bed and rushed across the hall of his apartment and pulled open his roommate's door. "Louis!" he called as he jumped onto the boy's bed, making his friend groan. "Louis, I have something super important to show you."

"Jesus, Zayn," he said as he pushed his Spiderman comic book away from him. "What if I had been jerking off in here? How would our friendship survive if you'd inevitably fall for me and try to pursue me? Use your head!"

Zayn rolled his eyes. "Like that would ever actually happen, you wanker," he said, elbowing the other boy in the side. "Besides, I'm serious about having to show you something. Look at this." He showed Louis his phone screen with the notification about Liam following him.

"Shit," Louis said. "How the hell did that happen? You always complain that he never follows you during his following sprees even though you _never tweet him about it_ , so why the hell would he decide to follow you?" Zayn told Louis about the phone call he made to Liam on a whim after seeing his original tweet and the tweet that following that was thanking him. When he tried showing Louis the tweet, he noticed that he had more notifications and when he clicked, his eyes grew wide and they felt like they were about to pop out of his head. Not only did he have over a hundred retweets and likes on his tweet to Liam, but he actually gained over fifty followers since he came into Louis' room.

"Well, damn," he said. "I guess people think I have some kind of connection to the band because of the tweet. That's weird."

"You know, I never quite understood what your obsession with Liam was," Louis said as he picked his comic book back up and thumbed to the right page. "It's quite obvious that the curly haired one is the most fit.

"Harry," Zayn corrected. "His name is Harry and you _know that_ , Lou but you're too stubborn to admit that you actually like their music because it will make you seem 'more gay than you already are'." Zayn stood up and walked towards the door before turning back and adding, "Hate to admit but I think it's far too late for that, darling." 

Louis swore as Zayn quickly left the room and he could have sworn that he heard the thump of a pillow hitting the door but he wasn't going to turn around to find out. He returned to his room and fell back into his bed again. Liam Payne was following him on Twitter by some strange divine force in the world. He figured since Liam went out of his way to find his tweet specifically and to follow him, it wouldn't be such a huge deal if he sent him a direct message. He clicked the button and typed out 'thanks for the follow ! cant believe you were able to find my tweet in that mess !! Haha :)'

Almost instantly, Zayn's phone lit up again and he saw that Liam had responded. 'u seemed like a alright guy on the phone! im definitely glad it was u who called me saved me a big hassle!! plus no crying ;)'

Zayn knew he was probably pushing his luck, but decided that it wouldn't hurt to send Liam one more response. This was the benefit of being mutual followers, right? 'No crying here. cant promise not to if it happens again !! mostly for your horrible luck at twitter x' There. Nothing wrong with that. Just some playful banter with one of the most famous people in the entire world currently. No big deal. Zayn set his alarm and plugged his phone into the wall so he could make sure he didn't sit around waiting for a response from Liam. He had classes in the morning so Twitter would just have to wait for the morning.

When he woke up the next morning, he was _incredibly_ shocked to find that those fifty people grew to over three-thousand. Before this situation with Liam occurred, he only had about seventy followers and now seeing that big number staring back at him kind of blew him away. Not only did his follower count increase, but his notifications had blown up. For whatever reason, people seemed to be very interested in finding out about who Zayn was and just what happened between Liam and him. He knew the One Direction fandom reacted this way when it came to the boys, but he didn't understand why any of them would be interested in who he was just after one tweet.

He quickly checked his direct messages and saw that there hadn't been a reply from Liam after the last one he sent the night prior. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest at the disappointment, but the fact that he even had the opportunity to talk to him at all was pretty much a dream come true so he couldn't let it get to him. He gathered his things into his book bag, made himself some coffee to take with him to class _because tea just does not have enough caffeine sometimes, regardless to what Louis says_ and headed out the door to his first class, trying to leave his thoughts of Liam Payne behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

After his classes, Zayn decided to camp out in his usual chair in the library to get some reading done. He still hadn't heard back from Liam and even though he didn't want t admit it, it was a bit upsetting. He knew how lucky he was that Liam even acknowledged him after the first incident but he just had high hopes that maybe Liam would want to talk to him. He would have to put that aside for now since he had quite a bit of reading to do so he slipped into his chair, pulled out his book and began reading. He was able to get two chapters deep into the book while thinking about Liam minimally before he felt someone slip into his lap and wrap their arm around his neck. At first, he was going to assume the weight was Louis but not only would his best friend never be caught dead in the library at any other time other than finals week, but it was much too light. He looked up and saw blond hair and perfectly white teeth. _Perrie_ "Hello, love," she said cheerily, placing a kiss on his cheek. 

Perrie was someone he met during the first week of school. She sat next to him in one of his lectures and instantly began to chat with him. At first, Zayn assumed she was trying to flirt with him and when Zayn tried to address it, she rolled her eyes and said _'I tend to try and not hit on gay men.'_ Zayn was shocked to say the least at her blunt response. He didn't think he gave out any obvious signals of being gay, but apparently Perrie was able to tell anyway. Even though Zayn was very selective of who he called friends, not because he was conceited but more than he didn't trust many people, Perrie is now someone Zayn would consider one of his best friends. "Hey, Pez," Zayn said as he marked the page in his book and setting it down. "And what do I own the honor?

She scoffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "And why must I have a ulterior motive to talk to my best friend?" Zayn didn't bite because he knew exactly why Perrie was over here. One of the other reasons they became friends is because they were able to bond over One Direction. She followed all three members just like he did and Zayn knew there was no way that Perrie would have missed Liam tweet from the night before. It took all of five seconds before Perrie snapped. "Okay, okay," she groaned. "I saw what happened last night on Twitter with your dream man and I want details!"

"Nothing happened," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Liam accidentally tweeted his number, I was crazy enough to try and call him and he answered. I told him what he did, he deleted the tweet and I guess decided to thank me."

Perrie punched Zayn in the shoulder none too lightly and scoffed. "That's not the whole story," she accused. "He _followed_ you. Zayn, that's massive! Liam Payne decided to follow you. Why aren't you more excited about this?"

"Because it doesn't mean anything," he said defensively. "Nothing is going to come from it so I don't see the point of getting worked up over it." Just then his phone buzzed in his pocket and his eyes locked with Perrie's. He slid his phone out of his pocket and saw that he had a notification from Twitter from Liam. Perrie's lips curved into an annoying smirk as he opened up the app and saw that inside the DM was not only a response, but it was a bunch of numbers. A _phone number_ 'I figured u deserved it with helping me and all last night :)' Perrie tried to look over his shoulder as he read over the message again and again, and eventually was able to grab the phone right out of Zayn's hands while he was stuck in a daze. She let out a squeal and Zayn shushed her as quite a few heads turned to stare at them "Calm down, Perrie," he whispered to her. "We're in the library for gods sakes."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she scoffed. "I'm just acting appropriately for how one _should_ when the celebrity they've been in love with for two years gave them their personal number."

"I'm not in love with him!" Zayn snapped. "I mean, yeah he's fit and he's an amazing singer but I'm not..." He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's just being nice. He probably just thinks I'm nonthreatening because I'm not a girl. I'm sure if he knew I was gay he wouldn't be so willing to hand me his number."

Perrie stood up from Zayn's lap and flattened out her dress with her hands. "You're such a drama queen," she said. "Liam Payne hardly seems like the homophobic type plus I know you too well, Zayn, my love. You're just as excited as I am but you'd like to think you're too cool to show it."

She left after that and Zayn was alone to think about what he should do now the he had Liam's number. He obviously trusted Zayn enough to offer it to him, but why would Liam Payne, pop star and heartthrob extraordinaire want to talk to boring old Zayn who went to university and worked at a bookstore part-time. There were thousands, _millions_ of people just like Zayn but there was only one Liam. He quickly turned the screen off on his phone and tossed it in his bag. He still had reading to do and he could worry about what to do about Liam when he was finished.

A couple of hours later, Zayn stuffed his book back into his sack and walked back to his and Louis' apartment. Louis wasn't home so Zayn made himself a quick bite to eat before going to his room. Only when he was sitting on his bed did he allow himself to take his phone back out and look at the message from Liam. The numbers were still there so obviously he hadn't imagined it so that must mean that Liam really meant to give Zayn his number. He let his fingers hover over them before copying them and pasting it into a new message. He typed and retyped the message a few times before he finally hit send.

**Z:** Heyy Liam its zayn :)

As soon as he goes to set his phone down, he heard his phone buzz and a new text message appear on his screen.

**L:** heyyyyy!! I was starting to think u were ignoring me :( 

Zayn laughed in disbelief as he reread Liam's text. There was a frowny face and Liam was saying that he thought _Zayn_ could actually be ignoring _him_? He had to be dreaming but no matter how many times he reread the message, the words didn't change. 

**Z:** would never do that to you! I was in the library reading for class  
L: oooo big university student are u? never went myself.  
 **Z:** Yeah you decided to become a big popstar instead! how i envy you :P 

It went that way for a while. They talked about random things and Zayn couldn't seem to stop smiling at his phone. Liam apparently decided to give him his number, he discovered, because he did some snooping on his Twitter and decided he didn't seem crazy. Zayn freaked out a bit at that new bit of information and prayed he didn't have anything embarrassing on there or something that might give away that he really wasn't all that much different from his girl that followed him as well. It was an hour before Liam apologized and said he had to go. 

**L:** got to go. have to be up early in the morning for the breakfast show on radio 1 :( talk to you later tho x :) 

Zayn was bummed that he had to say goodbye to Liam but the it seemed that Liam was still interested in talking to him in the future so that made his heart perk up a bit. He checked his Twitter as soon as he said goodnight to Liam and saw he gained a few more followers since he last checked. He really wasn't sure what they were all waiting for, but Zayn never did understand the mind of the opposite sex. He blames it on his sexuality. He closed the app and made sure his alarm is set before crawling under his covers and falling asleep. 

The next morning, his alarm woke him up too soon. Technically, it woke him up just when he wanted it to, but he wasn't used to waking up this early. He decided that he was going to force himself out of bed early enough to catch Liam and the rest of One Direction on the Breakfast Show. He wiped his eyes and forced himself to crawl towards his nightstand to grab his laptop and opened up the live stream for Radio 1. He could already hear Nick Grimshaw talking. He was still trying to really get up and only when he heard him introducing the band was he able to get up enough to pay attention. 

_"Alright, we all know why most of you are here. They've sold out arenas worldwide, gone straight to number one in over thirty countries including the U.S., ladies and gentleman it's One Direction!"_ Zayn could hear the three boys cheer into their mics and he couldn't help but smile brightly as he picked out Liam's voice in the mix easily. _"Good morning, lads, thanks for being here."_

_"No problem_ ," Harry responded. _"Always happy to be here at Radio 1."_

Nick laughed and made a few jokes at Harry before he started to ask the boys questions. _"So, Harry,"_ he said. _"It seems like you started something interesting here that caused poor Liam here to have a mishap that involved a baby, a swimming pool and Twitter. Care to explain?"_

Harry chuckled and explained about Lux playing with his phone and dropping it in the pool while they were at their last hotel and how he needed to get a new one. Apparently since they were in a rush he wasn't able to get his contacts back and Liam of course, made the mistake of tweeting him his number instead of messaging it to him in private which Zayn obviously knew already. 

_"Yeah"_ Liam said making Zayn's ears perk up. _"Bad move on my part. I was fortunate enough to have a nice person give me a ring and let me know even though by the time he called, the damage was already done."_ Zayn was freaking out a bit. Liam was talking about him on the radio and he didn't know how to really process the fact. He was sure that even though there was no way she'd be up in time to listen to Nick's show, Perrie would find out before tracking him down and pestering him again. 

_"Yeah, yeah, I saw the tweet,"_ Grimshaw responded. "Some kid named Zayn who you followed quick after, if my sources are correct." 

_Fuck_. Now he was mentioned by name. Zayn was really freaking out now and wasn't sure what to do if Liam actually said his name instead of Grimmy. _"Yeah,_ " Liam responded. _"Real nice guy. Couldn't have asked for a better person to reach me first. I love all of our fans but I know that the situation could have definitely been awkward."_ All of the boys laughed and Zayn smiled along with them. So Liam didn't mention his name, but he was still mentioned on a national broadcast in reference to the biggest boy band in the world so there was something to be said about that. 

_"And by looking at his page he's right fit, too_ " Grimmy said which caused Niall to cackle in the background. _"Think you could get my his number, Liam?_ " 

_"I don't think I want to abuse our friendship by asking that of him, Grimmy. Best to try that on your own, mate_." 

After that, Grimmy started asking questions about the actual band, including their upcoming album, so Zayn shut the lid of his laptop and looked up in the ceiling in disbelief and amazement. So it was only seven-thirty in the morning and already he heard his name be mention on Radio 1 and Liam mentioned that they had a friendship to thousands of listeners. That, and Nick Grimshaw apparently had the hots for him which he was less than thrilled about but it was a lot to take in so early in the morning. He grabbed his phone and opened up Twitter and decided to tweet for the first time since the incident with Liam started. 

**@zaynmalik:** Just heard myself get mentioned on radio 1 that is siiick ! :) 

After a few minutes, he refreshed his page and saw that _dozens_ of people had liked and retweeted the tweet and the only thing Zayn could do was stare at it in awe. He still couldn't believe how much has happened in his life just in the past two days. All of which he could have never thought of in his dizziest daydreams. It was surreal and he was starting to believe that he _was_ dreaming when about twenty minutes later, he got a notification from Real_Liam_Payne. 

**@Real_Liam_Payne:** @zaynmalik hope i didnt embarrass u too bad! 

Zayn smiled and quickly replied. 

**@zaynmalik:** @Real_Liam_Payne: course not! it was a right laugh. Im honored honestly :P 

He knew he was going to get a real talking to from Pezza as soon as she was able to track him down, but he had a hard time caring. Things were just kind of great at that moment and Zayn was just going to sit back and enjoy the ride. 


	3. Chapter 3

Even though Zayn was usually one the to try and sleep in as late as time would allow, after the interview there was no way he'd be able to fall back asleep so he made himself some breakfast. He even did all of the dishes that had piled up in the sink so Louis should be pleased when he finally woke up. He gathered all of his things and pulled a beanie over his head before heading to his first class. He checked his Twitter again as he walked to campus and that his followers had blown up even more now that he and Liam had interacted for real. His followers were creeping up to almost ten thousand and his notifications were a mess. So many people had retweeted and liked the tweets to and from Liam and people were replying to them left and right. For whatever reason, people were really freaking out about this. He truly didn't understand it since he was a normal bloke, not some famous pop star. He just happened to get lucky but people were pushing to find out more about his friendship, _he could say that now that Liam had on national radio_ , with Liam. 

He decided it was probably best to ignore Twitter for the time being since he had a busy schedule that day. When all of his classes were done, he headed straight to work at the bookstore right outside of campus. He changed his clothes and stuffed them into his sack along with his cell phone so he couldn't be tempted. He liked working where he worked. It was relatively small and only had a few employees working at a time, but Zayn had always loved the smell of both new and old books so this job was kind of a dream come true. The work kept him busy as well. He was either always stocking, reorganizing or helping customers which made the time go by rather quickly which he was thankful for. The owner even let him borrow any book he wanted since he knew Zayn would always bring it back in perfect condition. Even though the rest of his life had changed, his work day was absolutely no different and he got put on reorganizing duty. While he was in the P-S section, Zayn heard someone lean back against the bookshelf. He looked up and saw Louis staring at him with a smirk on his face. _That can't be good_ he thought to himself. "Is there something I could do for you, Louis?" he asked as he continued on with his work.

"You know," he started picking up a stray book and flipping through the pages. "I got an interesting text from one Perrie Edwards today that may or may not have involved a pop star that goes by the name of Liam Payne." Zayn closed his eyes and took in a deep breath through his nose as he waited for Louis to continue. "At first, I figured she had just heard about the situation from a few nights ago but then I realized that, silly me, she's just as obsessed with this one particular boy band as you are so I asked what she meant and _apparently_ , you were mentioned by the very same boy band you are so desperately in love with on, get this, Radio 1."

Zayn set his pile of books down on one of the shelves and looked up at Louis. "What's your point, Louis?" he asked.

"My point is, why are you being so calm about this? Don't think I have forgotten what happened when they released their last CD and all you did was listen to it for almost a week," Louis scoffed. "I wanted to rip my ears off! Plus, it's quite common knowledge that you have the hots for Mr. Muscle so I'm just surprised you've been able to function."

"First of all," Zayn replied. "Stop acting like you don't like One Direction because I've seen your music collection and you literally have every song, _including_ the bonus tracks. Also, yeah, Liam is fit or whatever but what would freaking out even do? If I decided to freak out, there is no way Liam would want to talk to me. I'd just be another annoying fan to him and that means no contact at all and besides, it's all friendly. Even if I find Liam attractive, it doesn't change the fact that he's straight as an arrow and he only wants to be my friend." He sighed and picked up his pile of books and continued to reorganize them even though Louis didn't seem done with this conversation.

"Does he know you're gay?" Louis pushed, making Zayn almost drop his entire pile of books.

"Of course he doesn't know," he said. "I mean, I doubt Liam is the homophobic type but if he knew than I wouldn't be just a friend. I'd be a _gay_ friend so I'm sure he'd then assume I'm just like any of the other girls who try to talk to him."

Louis let out a sigh and put he book he had been holding down. "I was going to say that you aren't very different from the other girls but I don't want to die in my sleep tonight," he said. "Even though you think it would change things, I think you should tell him. It'd be better if you told him right away and him leave than you building up a friendship with the kid and deciding he wants nothing to do with you. Just think about it, alright?" Louis kissed Zayn's cheek before he turned to walk out of the store, leaving Zayn alone with his thoughts.

Deep down, Zayn knew Louis had a point. While he didn't think that Liam had a problem with gay people, the whole reason Liam offered his number was because he wasn't threatening, right? Well what if he decided now that he knew Zayn was gay he was some sort of a threat? Even though he was sort of in love with at least the media portrayal of Liam Payne, he had enjoyed talking to him last night and was hoping that it would continue. While he hoped things wouldn't change because of his sexuality, in this day and age, you never know. Zayn was very open about his sexuality and he refused to hide it, so telling Liam was probably inevitable. _Alright_ he decided. He'd have to tell him because like Louis said, he'd rather find out right away than have a deep friendship ripped from him later on.

Zayn didn't tell him right away. It wasn't that he was avoiding the conversation necessarily, he just hadn't found a good time to bring it up. He and Liam had continued to talk on a daily basis, even though the band was busy promoting their third album and had been traveling to different countries in Europe. It had been just over two weeks since everything started happening and One Direction was currently in Italy. He had just returned home after spending the night watching movies with Perrie at the flat when he pulled out his phone which Perrie had forced him to turn off while they were hanging out. When he turned it on, he had a few missed text messages from Liam, one from less than ten minutes ago.

 **L** : man what a long day. italian fans are craaazy.  
 **L** : what have you been up to?  
 **L** : don't tell me your asleep already!! :(

Zayn smiled and quickly typed out a response.

 **Z:** No just got home from a friends. she made me turn my phone off  
 **L** : friend or girlfriend? :P

Zayn gulped. This was a perfect set up to be able to tell Liam. If he backed out now, he would probably never be able to do it. He sighed and typed out his response.

 **Z** : No, she made it very clear from day one she doesnt hit on gay boys so I lost my chance long ago :(

There, he said it. He admitted that he was gay. Well, kind of. He didn't exactly spell it out but he still did it and that's all that mattered, right? He was scared of what Liam was going to say, and since there wasn't an immediate response, he quickly typed out:

 **Z** : I hope that doesnt bother you...

A response came over a minute later and Zayn's heart stopped in his chest when he saw his screen light up with a notification. He took a deep breath and unlocked his screen and checked to see what Liam responded with.

 **L** : doesnt bother me at all :) ur not my only gay friend u know

Zayn let out the breath he didn't even realize he had been holding and stared at his phone a bit. So Liam was okay with him being gay. He wasn't going to stop talking to him and they could remain being friends. Brilliant. He quickly took a screenshot of the conversation and sent it in a text to Louis saying ' are you happy ????' before typing back to Liam. Even though he was trying to play it off like it wasn't a big deal, Zayn felt like he had a load off of his chest now that he finally told him. This was the outcome he was hoping for so the only thing he could really do was go with it.

 **Z** : Alright good I was a bit nervous to tell you. glad its alright  
 **L** : dont worry its more than alright :)

Okay, so Zayn wasn't sure how to take that. If this was coming from any other boy, Zayn would almost think it was a sign that he was possibly gay as well because what else could that really mean? Since it was Liam, however, he wouldn't even allow his brain to think about the possibility. Friends. That all they were and all they could ever be so he refused to push the matter further. Just like usual, Liam was the first one who had to go to bed. Ever since they started promoting their album, they had been traveling all over and tomorrow they were making the leap over the ocean to America to do some performances and more promotion. He said their goodnights to each other and Zayn held his phone to his chest. Liam knew. Liam _knew._ It was crazy but he did it. Before he went to bed, he checked his phone and saw he had a new message from Louis congratulating him and asked when the wedding was. He rolled his eyes and tried to squash the smile on his face before he plugged in his phone and went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure the next chapter is going to be in Liam's POV. I usually try to stay in one persons point of view in stories, but I think it will be nice to check in with Liam and get a feel how he thinks about the situation and also we can finally have some interaction with the other boys. Please let me know what you think! :)


	4. Chapter 4

Liam couldn't really believe how unusual the events that had occurred over the past few weeks. He couldn't believe he was stupid enough to tweet out his number instead of sending it in a direct message, or even sending a text message but it happened and Liam paid the consequences for it. The one benefit that he saw from all of the mess that the tweet caused was that he now had a friend in Zayn. He wasn't sure how Zayn was able to be the first to reach him out of the millions of people it could have been but he couldn't he more grateful that it was. Liam loved his fans dearly, but he knew very well that if anyone else had reached him, it could have been a very awkward conversation. To this day he still didn't know how to deal with the fans that cried when they saw him. Maybe it was a girl thing, who knows but Zayn had made the situation pleasant. As soon as they got off the phone, Liam saw just how bad it was even though he had pulled up his Twitter on the computer and deleted the tweet during his phone call with Zayn. Still, the damage was done and Liam saw no other option but to turn off his phone until he could deal with it tomorrow.

While his Twitter was pulled up, he figured he better do some damage control and address the issue, making sure to thank Zayn of course because the guy deserved some credit in the situation. He looked through some of the responses, chuckling a bit at how the fans were upset that his number was getting changed when he saw it. '@Real_Liam_Payne no problem, mate. Great talking to you ! x' Liam quickly clicked on the boy's name and pulled up his page. _Zayn Malik_. He figured that Zayn was a pretty uncommon name so this had to be his guy. He hit the 'follow' button because, you know, why not? He seemed like a nice guy and on some further investigating on his page, Liam concluded that he seemed like a normal guy so he didn't see the harm. He noticed that Zayn was following Harry and Niall as well so he was a fan, but he figured there couldn't be much harm in that.

He clicked the boy's profile picture to enlarge it since he should know what his savior looked like but he really wasn't expecting _that_. The boy was attractive, pretty almost, as far as men went. Even though the shot seemed rather candid, like it was taken on a cell phone, the boy looked like he stepped right out of a fashion magazine. Liam was kind of taken aback by it. Before he could really dwell on the fact that he was finding this _boy_ more attractive than he probably should, he noticed that he had a new direct message. It was from Zayn. Liam smiled at the message and quickly replied back. He noticed the reply as well but figured he'd better wait for a reply until he could get his number changed since he kind of already decided in his head that he was going to give it to the other boy, even though he should probably be more hesitant. _Fuck it_.

When he woke up the next morning and turned on his phone, he was completely blown away by the number of missed calls, text messages, and voicemails he had waiting for him. He whistled lowly and was surprised his phone wasn't completely shut down from the constant inflow but he was still able to go through his contacts and call Harry. Instead of saying 'hello', he was greeted with _"Liam, you dumbass"_ and laughter to follow and Liam rolled his eyes. He filled Harry in a bit and told him now he'd have to get his number changed. They hung up soon after and Liam got dressed and headed out to get his number changed. It was a pretty simple process, thankfully, but when they were switching his contacts onto his new phone (he decided that he might as well get a new phone since there is no way in hell he'd be able to delete all of the messages from his other one) that he never got a chance to save Zayn's number so as soon as he was finished and got back to his flat, he sent Zayn a direct message with his new number in it. He hoped the boy decided to text him since he didn't have anything planned today and wouldn't mind someone new to talk to.

He waited all day but didn't receive anything. Liam was bummed out to say the least. He kept busy by working out a bit in the extra bedroom he converted into a home gym, sent everyone on his contacts list a text message saying this was his new number, and even watched a movie but he didn't receive a text until near the end of the night. He was more excited than he probably should have been, but whatever.

Talking to Zayn was refreshing. It was hard to make true, genuine friends when you're in the industry that he's in, and so far it seemed as if Zayn was on track to becoming a good friend. Even though in the back of his head he knew that Zayn was a fan as well, they almost never brought up the fact that Liam was who he was apart from when Liam mentioned what he was going to do the next day. The boys knew about it, it was hard to ignore that Liam was always on his phone since they were together all the time with all of the promotion they were doing for their new album. Niall didn't really have an opinion, he was glad that Liam had found a new friend but Harry was much more hesitant about the situation. He knew why Harry was worried since the situation of their meeting as a bit weird, but Liam trusted Zayn. Harry was still skeptic, but told Liam to be careful and that was the end of the conversation.

They had been talking for about two weeks when Liam found out Zayn was gay. Liam wasn't surprised, necessarily since he knew what his fanbase was and that they probably didn't have many hetersexual male fans but still, he was a bit surprised by how he felt about it. Liam didn't care about a person's sexuality. Everyone know Harry was what he considered heteroflexible and liked all types of people and _they_ were obviously best mates but knowing Zayn was gay didn't feel like that. What he felt wasn't an unpleasant feeling, but he still couldn't quite put his finger on exactly what the feeling was. He reassured Zayn that he didn't care about his sexuality and nothing seemed to change after that.

He ended up telling Harry about the conversation while they were waiting for their plane to take off and the other boy laughed. "You know," he said with a stupid dimpled grin on his face. "I looked the boy up and I have to say, he's pretty fit. Mind giving me his number, LiLi?"

" _No_ ," Liam snapped. He really wasn't sure why he was acting so defensively over this, but he couldn't help himself it seemed like. He felt some kind of protectiveness over Zayn and for some reason, he refused to let Harry even play with the thought. Harry snickered again and opened a magazine, shaking his head at Liam's direction.

America was great. Their fans, as always, were wonderful and plentiful. Liam still wasn't sure why he ended up so lucky but he couldn't ask for a better job. Texting Zayn was a lot harder now that the timezones were so different, but they somehow managed to still make it work. Promoting the new album was great. They performed on Good Morning America _and_ Saturday Night Live and everything kind of seemed surreal even though he had been doing this for three years. Their album was released at number one and Liam couldn't be more proud of how their music had matured over time and he was glad that the fans seemed to enjoy it as well. Even though he always loved their time in America, he was glad when they were able to go home as well. The timezone thing was really messing up his sleeping schedule.

A few days after they returned, the boys had some time off so Liam decided that he was going to do a Twit cam since it had been ages since his last one. The fans went ballistic on Twitter and they even got a few things trending worldwide in response before he even got a chance to set the thing up. As soon as he posting the link, his room became full of people and Liam smirked as he watched the numbers rise with each second. He talked a bit as he watched the chat box and it seemed like everyone was wondering whether or not he and Zayn had become friends since the incident over a month ago. While most of their interactions had been through text messaging, they did occasionally interact on Twitter as well. To prove that yes, indeed they were friends, Liam pulled up Zayn's number on his phone and hit 'call'. After a few rings, he heard a ' _Hellooooo?_ ' come from the other end and Liam couldn't help but giggle.

"Hey Zayn," Liam said as he put the phone on speaker so that the viewers would be able to hear the conversation.

_"Liiiiiam! Heyyyyy," the boy responded. "How's it?"_

"I'm good," Liam said. "What are you up to?"

_"Pezza brought over a bottle of wine and so her, Lou and myself have finished the whole thing."_ He heard the the boy giggle on the other end and he almost felt bad for having him on his Twit cam, while he was drunk, and he didn't even know it. _"What do I owe the pleasure of this phone call, Mr. Payne?"_

Liam smiled. "I'm actually doing a Twit cam right now and everyone was asking about you so I decided to give you a ring to please everyone."

Instead of a response, Liam heard Zayn yell at someone in the background that he really couldn't pick up and he heard someone shouting back and some annoyed sounds coming from Zayn. After some rustling, he heard Zayn giggle again and say, _"Well look at that, there you are. I'm on."_

At the news that Zayn had joined the Twit cam, the fans went nuts and Liam was sure that the server would crash with how many incoming messages were appearing. Suddenly, he caught Zayn's name pop up with the words 'heyyyyy' and that made the fans go even more nuts. Liam laughed. "I think you're going to break my Twit cam, mate," he said. "I'll let you, go though. Talk to you later, yeah?"

_"Okayyyy,"_ Zayn slurred out. _"Byeeee Liam!"_

The fans were disappointed that he had gotten off the phone with Zayn but wasn't exactly sure what kind of drunk his new friend was and wasn't going to risk anything slipping out that he didn't mean to slip out live with thousands of people listening. Liam tried to keep the fans entertained and answered their questions, making sure to skip over the many incoming ones about Zayn since he wasn't sure what he could possibly let slip out. When he decided to end the livestream, Liam checked Twitter one last time before going to bed and saw that there was a new thing trending as well. 'Ziam'. When he clicked on it, thousands of tweets appeared that were about Liam and Zayn, many of them mentioning that 'Ziam was real', whatever that meant. He knew how shipping went with his fans, he had been on Tumblr a time or two, but Zayn and him were just good friends. He noticed a tweet that read 'Can't believe that Liam had Zayn on the phone! The next twit cam he should have Zayn on it with him!'. Liam smiled and retweeted it, deciding that he could have the fans freak out some more before he went to bed. It wasn't like it was a bad idea. He and Zayn were good friends now so it would seem somewhat inevitable that they met. He would worry about that later and just let the fans speculate about it for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for Liam's POV. I hope people liked it. Let me know what you think and please feel free to let me know what you want to happen since not everything is completely set in stone :)


	5. Chapter 5

When Zayn woke up the next morning, he felt groggy and kind of miserable. He didn't drink that much last night, but wine always seemed to have that affect on him. He rubbed his eyes as he tried to piece together everything that happened last night. Perrie came over, they were drinking and then....Liam called. _Oh god_. Liam had called him while he was drunk and... _shit_. The Twit cam. Liam had him on his Twit came when he was drunk. He groaned and went to roll over to grab his phone when he bumped into a body. Perrie was lying next to him and whined when Zayn disturbed her sleep. This wasn't the first time he woke up with her in his bed but he'd really like to check his phone to make sure he didn't say anything stupid. He remembered most of it. He remembered talking to Liam and forcing Louis to grab his computer so he could view the livestream, just some of the details were fuzzy. He managed to crawl out of bed without deserving Perrie too much and grabbed his phone from the bedside table. He crawled back into bed and opened up his Twitter. As usual, his notifications were pretty out of control and everyone still seemed to be talking about Zayn being on the phone. His followers had even grown from the massive number he already had, somewhere close to 200,000. He still couldn't figure out why people seemed to be so interested in his friendship with Liam but whatever. He checked his tweets, seeing one from Perrie about hanging out with Zayn and Lou the night before and favoriting it before scrolling up some more. There was a retweet from Liam about how the next time he did a Twit cam, he should have Zayn with him. Zayn's eyes grew wide that Liam actually retweeted this meaning maybe he had been considering meeting him sometime in the future. Texting him was one thing, but the idea of meeting Liam in person made his palms sweat a bit. 

At this point, Zayn knew he liked Liam for more than him being Liam Payne, international megastar. He thought Liam was great and felt fortunate that he got to know him more than what the media portrayed him as. Still, he was a fan of him as well so the idea of meeting him freaked him out a bit. Zayn opened up a new tweet and typed one out to Liam.

**@zaynmalik** : @Real_Liam_Payne thanks for making me look like a fool last night :(

He looked at his phone and decided he could deal with a bit more sleep so he closed Twitter and pulled the covers up to his chin. The next time he woke up, it was because of Perrie getting up. He groaned and tried to savor his sleeping for just a bit longer, but his friend gently pushed his shoulder and declared that she was starving. He opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawned. He checked his phone and saw that he had only got about another hour of sleep but he decided it was better than nothing. He also noticed that he had a Twitter notification from Liam which of course he had to check right away. Perrie's stomach could wait. He pulled up the app and saw a new tweet from Liam posted about 20 minutes ago.

**@Real_Liam_Payne:** @zaynmalik sorry mate!!! Ill make it up to u :)

Zayn really wasn't sure what that could possibly mean, so instead of replying to the tweet, he opened up the text thread between him and Liam and typed out:

**Z** : So how are you going to make it up to me ??

Perrie was thankfully brushing out her hair so he wasn't getting a talking to about ignoring her basic needs because instead of receiving a text reply, his phone began to ring and Liam's name popped up on his screen. Perrie looked over and by the look on her face, she obviously knew who was calling and asked him if he was going to answer it or sit there. Zayn stuck his tongue out at her as he accepted the call. "Hello?"

_"Morning, sunshine_ ," Liam chirped happily which made Zayn smile into his phone. He could hear Perrie chuckling in the background and he gave her the finger as he walked to the far end of the room. _"Hope you're feeling well this morning."_

"A bit groggy," he admitted. "Nothing a greasy breakfast won't fix."

Liam laughed on the other end of the line. _"Yeah, you seemed a little bit drunk happy last night_ ," he said. _"Which is why I'm calling. I believe I told you that I'd make it up to you so that's what I'm going to do."_

"Oh, really?" Zayn inquired. "And just exactly how are you going to do that?"

_"When was the last time you've been to a concert?"_ Liam asked. Zayn was confused and couldn't put the pieces together. Truth be told, he'd never been to a concert before which he was a bit embarrassed to admit but Liam didn't seem to care. _"Well, it's not a concert, exactly but more of a performance. We're performing for the X-Factor final next week and I wanted to know if you'd like to come."_

Zayn was panicking. He was freaking out but he wasn't allowed to fucking show it because he couldn't let Liam know just how big of a fucking deal this is to him. How many times he wish he could dish out the hundreds of dollars it was to get tickets to their shows and see them perform. He wanted to scream, he even kind of wanted to jump on his bed a bit but this was _Liam_ on the phone so he couldn't do any of that. "Are you serious?" he asked, hoping his voice wasn't giving away his excitement.

_"Yeah,"_ Liam replied. _"I could put your name on a list and they'd get you a ticket. I was thinking that maybe after, you know, we could meet up. I mean, we've been talking for a while not and I figured if we're going to be friends we'd have to meet _eventually_."_

Zayn smiled and looked back at Perrie who was watching him curiously. He knew he wanted to say yes, and while he didn't want to push his luck and take advantage of his friendship with Liam, he'd feel really guilty if he couldn't bring Perrie. Louis, too, even though he still won't admit he likes them. "I'd love to," he said. "I just, was wondering if I could ask a favor? My friends, Louis and Perrie are _massive_ fans and I think Perrie might kill me if she didn't get to go and I'd hate to, you know, use our friendship or whatever but---" 

Liam interrupted him before he could finish his very long train of thought. _"Zayn_ ," he said. _"Stop talking, mate. I was already going to ask if they wanted to come. I know you're not trying to abuse our friendship so just relax, alright? I'll put them on the list as well."_

"Holy shit," Zayn exclaimed as Perrie came over, trying to listen in on the rest of the conversation. "You're the best, Liam." 

_"It's not a problem, really,"_ he promised. _"I'll text you the rest the information once I have things sorted."_

The said their goodbyes and Perrie grabbed his shoulders and demanded he tell her what the conversation was about. When he told him, she actually _squealed_ and started talking about what she was going to wear and Zayn couldn't help but roll his eyes. Apparently the sound of Perrie's squeal sparked Louis interest and he came into the room and asked what the hell was wrong. Perrie was the one to tell him and his reaction was absolutely _priceless_. Just like in every other situation relating to One Direction, Louis tried his best not to react but Zayn could see the smile that was pulling at the corners of his lips and he had to tuck his lips in to try and hide it. After a bit of freaking out, they all decided they were too hungry to ignore anymore and went out for breakfast. 

The week before the X-Factor final went by slow and it was driving Zayn a bit mad. Liam had been busy with more promotional stuff and band practice. Even though they had performed this particular song before, it was still new and they wanted to make sure it had been fine tuned before their performance so Zayn didn't get many chances to talk to him. That was okay since he knew that after this week was over, he'd finally be able to meet Liam. Thankfully, his finals had been over with two weeks ago so school was no longer an added stress from him. 

The night of the performance, Perrie was at their flat to get ready. Her hair had been recently dyed to a nice lilac color but Zayn couldn't help but poke fun at her for doing so the night before the performance. She ended up looking wonderful, of course, with her floral shirt, jean jacket, pink shorts and light pink lipstick, Zayn knew that if he was into girls, he'd probably go for Perrie himself. Even though Perrie looked great, he was still trying to figure out what _he_ should wear. It wasn't every day you meet a fucking famous popstar. He didn't want to look like he was trying to hard, but he didn't want to look like a slob either. It was actually quite the fucking dilemma. After Perrie tried to help him pick out at least a dozen outfits, he deciding on some light-wash and a black v-neck. It was simple but the shirt showed off his tattoos nicely which was always a plus. His hair was rather simple as well. Instead of his usual quiff, he deciding to just spike it slight in the front which Perrie assured looked good. 

They went to go check on Louis to discover that the boy's room was a wreck with clothes thrown everywhere and Louis was sitting on a pile of clothes in the middle of the room. "I don't even want to hear it," he said. "If I even hear you mutter a single word don't think I won't off you both and make it look like a bloody accident."

Once they were all ready, they took the bus to Wembley Arena which had a huge crowd surrounding it. Liam had told Zayn in a text that they are to go to the South entrance and give their names to the guard at the door. They weren't able to meet up before the performance but someone would show them to their seats and then bring them backstage at the end. When they arrived at the door, Zayn was nervous that for whatever reason they weren't going to be let in and his night would be ruined. Thankfully, though, they were allowed through and brought through a maze filled with a commotion of people and directed to their seats. They were informed that if they decided not to stay for the entire performance to exit through the doors to their left and find the security at the door and they'd direct them to where they could meet up with the boys. _Fuck the finals_ Zayn thought to himself. He liked the X-Factor just as much as the next person but he was anxious to finally meet Liam that there was no way he was going to sit through this instead. He knew that Perrie and Louis were hardly going to complain. 

When they announced One Direction, the entire stadium erupted in screams and Zayn had to contain himself from screaming along with them. Perrie, on the other hand, was shameless and was buzzing with excitement. When he spotted them, Zayn's heart fucking dropped because go figure, Liam looked even better in person. He had no idea how he was supposed to handle being close to him now that he could actually see him. Their performance was flawless, not that Zayn was surprised their and when it ended, he looked over at his friends and they both knew they were going to leave. They went towards the exit and just like the first guard had said, there was a second guard waiting for them. With each step they took, Zayn great more and more nervous. This was kind of the moment he had been wishing for for almost three years and now it was going to happen. When the guard opened the door, no preparation could have readied him for this situation. 

"Zayn!" he heard Liam call out and Zayn had to remind himself not to freak out, that Liam was just his friend like any other. "It's nice to finally meet you, mate." Then he was pulling Zayn in for a hug and Zayn could feel himself melt into Liam's embrace. The boy had arms like a tank but he felt pretty fucking safe in his arms. When he stepped away, Liam had a huge grin on his face which Zayn happily returned. He stepped over to Perrie and took her hand and placing a kiss on top of it. "You must be Perrie," he said and Zayn could see his friend blush brightly at the touch. Then he turned to Louis and offered his hand. "And Louis. It's nice to meet you guys finally." Just then, a cough came from behind them and Zayn finally noticed that both Niall and Harry were there waiting to be introduced. "Oh," Liam said. "Yeah, okay. This is Harry and this is Niall." 

After they all got properly introduced and Zayn was finally able to comprehend that this wasn't actually a dream, things were actually quite nice. Harry and Niall was just as great as he saw in interviews and they all seemed to get along great which was more than he could have really hoped for. Liam's attention was almost always on him, which was a plus and if his eyes weren't deceiving him, Harry almost never seemed to stop looking at Louis. He didn't know Harry very well but if he had to guess, it was almost as if he was checking Louis out. He wondered if Louis noticed as well. He felt his phone buzz and when he went to check it, he saw it was from Liam. He looked up and arched his brow at the other boy before opening it up. 

**L** : wanna get out of here? 

Zayn's heart stopped but he somehow managed to nod his head. He felt bad for leaving his friends, but he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to actually have alone time with Liam. He promised he'd text them later and after some curious glances, he and Liam were able to leave. Alone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Perrie's outfit is inspired by the outfit she wore in the 'Wings' video and Zayn's hair is supposed to be the hair he had in Japan because yum. Am I right?


	6. Chapter 6

When they left the arena, there were a few paps waiting outside to catch a shot of the group leaving. They were probably disappointed that it was only Liam and him leaving and not the other boys. Liam waved to some of their fans that were waiting as well and he could have _sworn_ that he heard his own name being called out as they were leaving. Liam drove them both over to his flat and Zayn was glad that the ride was relatively quiet since he was having a bit of a mental breakdown. He couldn't comprehend that this was real life and didn't know how to handle that he was experiencing this. The ride was relatively short once they got through the paps blocking the road as they first left. He brought him up to the door and when he unlocked it, Zayn couldn't help but be impressed. Liam's place was much nicer than the one he shared with Louis. He couldn't even begin to imagine how much a place like this would cost, let alone all of the stuff the was inside of it. Even though the flat was pretty nicely decorated, you could still tell that it was a lad that lived there. There were Batman memorabilia scatted throughout and Zayn couldn't exactly say he was surprised. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Liam had disappeared in the kitchen and when he reappeared, he came back with two bottles of beer. Zayn thanked him and took a sip and sighed happily. When he finished his first, he could tell he was starting to relax and the conversations with Liam flowed much easier.

After their second bottle, Liam walked into the kitchen again, to probably grab another round of beers but when he returned, he had two Twister Ice Cream pops and Zayn let out a small snort. "I haven't had these since I was young," he said as Liam handed him one. "These were the best."

Liam gave out a hum of agreement but was already too busy unwrapping the package and letting the popsicle slip into his mouth. He let out a moan, his eyes slipping shut and Zayn had to control himself to try and not get a boner. Liam might be okay with him being gay, but that would be awkward for anyone. "These are sooooo fucking good," he said without taking the pop out of his mouth. "I would kiss whoever invented these."

"Agreed," Zayn said as he started to eat away at his own. "Fucking gangsters, they are."

Liam let out a laugh and nearly let the ice cream fall from his mouth before he reached for his phone. "Totally going to tweet that," he said, smiling around it. "Fans are gonna go nuts." Liam quickly typed away at his phone and Zayn pulled up the Twitter app on his own phone. At the very top, there was a new tweet from Liam and Zayn let out another snort.

 **@Real_Liam_Payne:** I just like to say a big thank you to the man/woman who made twister ice creams your a gangster from liam payne and zayn malik

"You're an idiot," Zayn said as he took a bite off from the top. These things were fucking good, just as he remembered. Liam finished even before he did and when he was finished, he continued to chew at the stick as he looked through his phone.

"Just like I thought," he said with a grin on his face. "The fans are freaking out that you're here. Most of them are begging for that Twit cam I supposedly promised. You up for it champ? I don't want you to have to do two cam shows drunk." Zayn stuck his tongue out at Liam and stood up, tossing the stick in a nearby bin.

"I'm just fine, thank you," he said proudly, even though he could still feel the affects of the alcohol in his blood. "We wouldn't want to make your ten million loving followers upset because you refuse to share my presence with them."

Liam grinned and started typing away on his phone and when he Zayn checked his own, he saw a new tweet asking people to retweet if they wanted them to do a Twit cam together. Zayn instantly retweeted it even though most of his followers follow Liam anyway and would have seen it. As if there was any doubt, there were _thousands_ of retweets and like so Liam told him to follow him and he showed Zayn to his bedroom. A huge knot formed in his throat knowing that he was in _Liam-fucking-Payne's_ bedroom and that this was pretty much like a dream come true. He tried his best to swallow it and act as natural as he could and he thanked his lucky stars that he at least had the alcohol to calm his nerves a bit. While Liam was setting up the Twit cam on his laptop, Zayn took the opportunity to look around. His room was surprisingly clean for a twenty year old boy's room. The bed sheets were black satin and his bed was fucking _huge_. Most of his furniture was black which contrasted well with the clean, white, plush carpet that covered the floors. There was a few more Batman items which said could only smile fondly at and roll his eyes a bit. This boy really liked his super heroes. He also noticed that there were some photos on a board on the far end of the room. He could make out Harry and Niall in a few of them but he wasn't close enough to view the rest. Before he could try to examine much further, Laim shouted "A-ha!" as he finally pulled up the Twit cam. "If you'd like, you can go grab a couple more beers from the fridge. Maybe pour them in some glasses to make it a little less obvious. First cupboard on the right."

Zayn left the room and made themselves another drink quickly before heading back. When he got there, Liam was already waving at the camera and Zayn had to stifle his laugh. Liam looked back at him and grinned and Zayn made a quick move to take a sip of his beer before handing one off to Liam. "See everyone!" Liam said towards the screen. "Everyone welcome Zayn Malik. Yaaaaay." 

Zayn popped his head over Liam's shoulder and waved to the camera. "Hey," he said. Zayn looked at the viewer count and he couldn't believe how high it was climbing. Last time Liam had around 30,000 people, but now the number was just peaking over 50,000. He also checked the comment box and saw that many people were freaking out over him actually being there. "Vas happening?" 

Liam chuckled and leaned forward to read some of the comments. "Liam," he read aloud. "Are you going to miss Zayn when you and the boys leave to go back to America for X-Factor? Of course! We've come great chaps since I made my dumbie move over a month ago. Look at this face," he said as he turned to Zayn and squished his cheeks with his hand, causing Zayn to scowl. "Who wouldn't miss this?" Zayn rolled his eyes as Liam went on to find another comment. "Is this the first time you have hung out? Yes! Finally had some room in our schedules to meet. Zaynie here is a big university student and you guys know I'm always flying around left and right. Oh!" Liam exclaimed suddenly. "There's a few for you, Zayn. They'd like to know what're you studying in uni and if you have a girlfriend." Liam burst out laughing and quickly covered his mouth with his cup. 

"Uh, I'm studying to be a literature teacher, hoping to get my doctorate one day and teach at a university so we'll see how that goes and uh, no I don't have a girlfriend," he answered, shooting Liam a warning look not to bring up the 'G' word in front of all of the people watching. Zayn doesn't hide his sexuality but Liam's fans already speculate enough as it is and he doesn't want to give them more to speculate on, especially when all they have is friendship. They answered a few questions after that, most of them being for Liam but surprisingly quite a few of them were for Zayn as well. They interacted just between themselves as well and the fans went pretty wild when Liam turned on some music and started dancing in his seat. If Zayn wasn't drunk, there was no way he'd go along with it but somehow he found himself singing along to 'Talk Dirty To Me' fucking live on cam in front of thousands of people. 

They stayed on for over an hour before Liam told the fans that they were going to go. They said their goodbyes to the cam before shutting down Liam's computer. Liam plopped down on his bed and Zayn moved to join him a bit more gracefully. The two boys lie there on their backs, staring at the ceiling before Liam broke the silence. They talk about casual things at first but then Liam decided to touch on deeper subjects. "So like," he started slowly. "How did you know you were gay? When did you find out?" 

Zayn was taken aback, to be honest, because he never really talked about it, not like this and not with his straight friends who just wouldn't understand. "I don't know," he said with a shrug. "I guess I always kind of knew. I never had interest in chasing after girls when I was younger and that didn't change when I grew up either. I can find girls physically appealing, like, I know when someone is attractive but it doesn't do anything for me downstairs." They both chuckled softly before Zayn continued. "I guess I realized when I was in year eight that I would much rather look at the nice lines of a boy's muscles than the soft curves of a girl. I didn't have a big revelation about it. I just...knew." 

"Did you get any backlash for it?" Liam asked softly, as if he was almost too scared to ask. 

Zayn sighed and took a deep breath before answering. "Yes," he whispered. "I decided that it was a good idea to tell my parents when I was in year ten. Family is supposed to love and support you with everything, right? Well, my dad wasn't too keen on it. Refused to accept he had a queer for a son. It's against the Muslim religion and whatever. He kicked me out and I haven't seen him since." He let out a deep breath through his nose. "Louis' mum took me in, bless her heart. She already had five kids to take care of but I had been going to their house since primary school so she told me it wasn't like things were going to be much different. I owe a lot to her, and Louis." 

There was a silence after that hung heavy in the air. Zayn had no idea he was going to admit so much to Liam and he felt incredibly vulnerable. He coughed awkwardly just to break some of the tension. He could hear Liam letting out a breath so it seemed to have work. "You don't need them," he said, turning towards Zayn. "You're better than that. You're caring, funny, charming and quite fit on top of that." Liam chuckled. 

"Don't say that Liam," Zayn whispered as he continued to stare up at the ceiling, not feeling brave enough to look Liam in the face. 

"Why not?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbow and continuing to look at Zayn. 

Zayn sighed. "Otherwise you might break my heart." 

Liam didn't say anything after that. Zayn wasn't even sure if he wanted him to. He heard some shuffling and saw Liam crawl out of bed and murmured that they should get some sleep. Zayn nodded and quickly, without looking at Liam, undressed all the way down to his briefs and crawled under the covers. The light shut off and he felt Liam crawl into bed with him. While he was starting to drift off, he could have sworn he heard the other boy whisper 'I would never break your heart' but before he could even comprehend the words, he fell into the darkness of sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

When Zayn woke up the next morning, he noticed a few things that were off. First off, he was quite obviously not in his bed. This bed was far too comfortable and the sheets weren't his usual old scratchy sheets. Second, there was a body pressed up against his back. Whenever he, Perrie or Louis ended up falling asleep in the same bed, it wasn't completely unusual for them to wake up touching in some way, even cuddling a bit, but this body was _much_ bigger than both of theirs so that really only left one other person. Zayn slowly opened his eyes and saw Liam's arm drapped over his middle, distinguishable by the familiar tattoos. He tried not to panic, but he currently had Liam Payne spooning against him in his sleep and he didn't think it was possible to keep calm in this situation. The second worst part is, he couldn't think of a way to get out of this without it being awkward. The absolute worst part was that he didn't really want to. He took a deep breath and tried not to make a sound and let himself secretly enjoy the embrace that Liam was unknowingly giving him.

It was over a half hour later before Liam began to stir. He held Zayn tighter to him as he stumbled out of sleep. "Oh," he murmured. "Sorry." He let Zayn go and he had to stop himself from asking him not to let go. Liam let out a yawn and wiped the sleep from his eyes before looking back over at Zayn. "You been up long?"

"Just woke up," he lied. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're the cuddling type."

Liam groaned with embarrassment and Zayn couldn't help but laugh at his expense. "I'm sorry about that," he said. "I guess I turn into a bit of a spider monkey in my sleep. I grab onto anything near me and don't let go. Was a bit awkward the first time I shared a bed with the boys. Scared Niall to bits." Liam surprised him by popping out of bed and stretching out his muscles and Zayn didn't even bother to hide his stare. I mean, he was only human. "Come on," Liam said. "Let me make you some breakfast before I drive you home, yeah? I think you said so yourself that nothing cures a hangover like a greasy breakfast."

Zayn chuckled and crawled out of the bed as well, trying to get the kinks out of his joints. He followed Liam into the kitchen that still had quite a few empty beer bottles scattered along the counters. He kind of wanted to groan. As Liam began to prepare some breakfast, his mind went back to the night before and all the things that happened. So he met Liam for real, something he imagined doing for three years. Not only that, he got _drunk_ with him and gave way too much information about himself. If that wasn't bad enough, he remembers saying something along the lines of Liam breaking his heart for calling him fit. _Shit_. He hoped that Liam either completely forgot his last words or looked over them. He didn't want their friendship to become weird because of something stupid he said while he was drunk.

While Liam finished the cooking, Zayn braved out and checked his Twitter. There were hundreds and hundreds of notifications about the Twit cam last night, but he noticed as he was going through his regular tweets, that there was a tweet he was mentioned in by none other than Harry Styles.

**@harry_styles:** @zaynmalik Great meeting you last night! Got to do it again soon, yeah? x

Zayn's inner fan was freaking out a bit, even though he was currently in the same room with an almost naked Liam Payne, because I mean, it's still Harry Styles. As soon as he went to respond, he noticed that Harry had also decided to follow him as well.

**@zaynmalik:** @harry_styles of course man! It was a blast :)

Seeing that Harry had decided to follow him, Zayn's curiosity got the better of him and he went to see if there was a chance that Niall was following him as well. When he opened up the other boy's page, he saw the words 'Follows You' and a big grin split across his face. He clicked on his followers and much to his surprise, it seemed that Niall also started to follow Perrie. Zayn would definitely have to ask her about that later.

When they were settled at the table eating their breakfast, which was pretty fucking good so he had to give Liam major credit for that, Zayn decided to ask the question that had been on his mind all morning. "So," he started, wiping his lips with a napkin. "When do you guys leave for America?" 

"In just a couple of days," Liam said as he scooped another forkful of egg into his mouth. "Sucks because we're going to be pretty busy for the next couple of days, some meetings about some promotional shit and then we'll be in the States for three days, I think?" He swallowed and washed it down with some milk, wiping his upper lip with the back of his hand. "Maybe we can hang out when I get back, yeah? We have some time off coming up."

Zayn agreed, of course, but when they were finished, Liam said that unfortunately he had some stuff in a couple of hours and should probably drive Zayn home. They both got dressed after Liam did the dishes, refusing to let Zayn help at all, and left for Zayn's. Zayn was glad that Liam had to go because he didn't want Liam to see his flat. It wasn't terrible, but he hardly thought anything could compare to Liam's. "Thanks for the wicked time," Zayn said before getting out of the car. "Let me know when you're back in the Queen's Country, yeah?" They both knew they would be contacting each other before that, but Zayn didn't want to seem clingy.

When he opened the door, he slowly opened the door to make his presence unknown if possible, but unfortunately for him, Louis was sitting on the couch with his cup of tea, looking straight at Zayn with his brow arched. "Is this a walk of shame I am witnessing, my dear Zayn?" he questioned before taking a sip of his tea.

Zayn rolled his eyes and kicked off his shoes before walking past Louis to the kitchen which was only separated from the living room by a counter. "Of course it's not," he said as he made himself his own cup of tea, more for a distraction than anything. "Liam and I both just fell asleep last night so he drove me home. Completely innocent."

"I am having a hard time that what may or may not have occurred last night was completely innocent, even if nothing sexual happened," Louis said as he set his cup of tea down on the table in front of him.

Zayn rolled his eyes and busied himself with grabbing the milk and sugar to properly prepare his tea, ignoring Louis' annoyed stare. "Whatever," he said as he took his first sip of tea. "I'm actually quite interested in finding out what happened after we left. I noticed that Niall started following Pezza."

Louis groaned and fell back on the couch, taking up the entire length of it. "The boy was laying the moves on her hard last night," he said. "It was kind of embarrassing. Pez was having none of it, of course. Said that she wouldn't be a notch in some pop stars bedpost. Don't think it's going to stop him, though."

"And you and Harry?" Zayn asked over the rim of his mug.

"What about him?" Louis asked defensively. "I stand with Pezza on this. I won't be some notch in his bed post. He can flutter those obnoxiously green eyes or smile that stupid dimpled smile of his and it won't change anything." Zayn had a feeling that Louis was leaving quite a bit out, but he wasn't going to push. Louis wouldn't share what he didn't want to share and he figured he'd find out soon enough.

His and Zayn's conversations were pretty few and far between before the boy's trip to the states. It was okay though, because Zayn was able to keep busy with work. He was trying to get some more hours with Christmas rapidly approaching. He already got his present for Louis and Jay, even some small presents for his siblings. He still needed to get Perrie something, and Liam as well. He really wasn't sure what he was supposed to get for someone who could probably afford just about anything. He'd figure something out, at least he hoped.

After work he got home from work that night, Zayn was tired and a bit sore from lifting some large boxes around in the back. He decided that he deserved a relaxing bath because grown men were allowed to take baths if they wanted to. It was only nine by the time he had the bath run and at the right temperature so he wasted no time slipping into the water, letting out a deep long, deep sigh. He let the warmth of the water relax his sore muscles and closed his eyes. He soaked for about ten minutes before he heard his phone buzzing from his pants lying on the floor. His eyebrow arched because who would be calling him this late? If Louis needed him, he'd just come home and Perrie wasn't a stranger to just walking into their apartment unannounced. When he managed to reach his phone, he saw that the incoming call was from Liam.

Hesitantly, he answered answered the call. "Liam?"

_"Heyyyyy,"_ he heard Liam's voice slur on the other side of the call.

Zayn looked at his phone and quickly did the math in his head. "Isn't it like five in the morning over there? What the hell are you calling?"

_"I missed you,"_ Liam giggled and Zayn couldn't help but smile. He knew Liam was drunk, that much was obvious, but the words were still nice to hear since he missed Liam, too. _"Missed you so much,"_ he continued. His voice dipped a bit lower and he heard Liam let out a low hum. _"Do you want to know how much?"_

"You're drunk," Zayn accused which only made Liam giggle like an idiot.

_"There was an after party for the X-Factor final,"_ he said. _"Had a drink or two but you're missing the point, Zaynie! 'Miss you. What're you doing?"_

"I was in the middle of a bath, actually," he said. "I just got home from work and wasn't exactly expecting a phone call from a very drunk Liam."

There was silence on the other line for a few moments. Zayn almost thought that either the call dropper or Liam had fallen asleep on him. As he was about to hang up, he heard a soft humming come from the receiver. _"You're in the bath?"_ Liam whispered into the phone. "That's hot."

"Liam," Zayn warned. He didn't like this game that Liam seemed to be playing and he wasn't going to be made into a fool by someone who already made him feel vulnerable enough as it is.

_"Do you want to know what I'm doing right now?_ Liam questioned and Zayn didn't respond. That didn't seem to bother him because he responded anyway. _" 'M touching myself right now. Got my hand wrapped around myself and stroking it nice and slow."_ A giant knot formed in Zayn's throat and he couldn't fucking speak. His whole life as of late seemed kind of like a dream. He had become friends with the boy band he had kind of obsessed over for years and he was even starting to consider Liam one of his best friends. This, though...this couldn't be happening. Liam was straight. Liam was _straight_. He heard Liam let out a dark chuckle and breathed deeply through his nose. _"Feels really good, Zayn,"_ he continued. _"Really wish it was you touching me. Wish I could feel your hands on my body, on my hard prick. Are you hard too, Zaynie?"_

Zayn couldn't fucking speak. Of course he was fucking hard. Liam's voice sounded like sex on it's own but now that he could hear it lace with arousal he didn't even know how to respond to the situation. He saw his dick peak out from surface of the water and he wanted so desperately to touch himself, but knew this was absolutely a bad idea. Still, he couldn't really seem to help himself because before he could stop himself, he was responding to the other boy. "Y-Yes," he whispered. "I'm hard, too."

He could hear Liam groan on the other end and he felt his cock grow more rigid in the water, it _desperately_ needing some kind of attention. Apparently, that's what Liam wanted for it to. _"Touch it for me,"_ he ordered. _"Want you to touch yourself and pretend it's me."_ Very hesitantly, he wrapped his fingers around his neglected prick and let out a small whimper. _"There we are,"_ Liam said with that deep chuckle again. _"That feel good, baby?_ "

Zayn bit down on his lower lip to try and contain the noises that were threatening to slip out. _Fuck yes_ it felt good. Even though he tried not to indulge any fantasies that involved his friend, now his brain went completely wild after being held in for so long. He really wished that his delicate fingers were Liam's large and rough hands, stroking his cock and moving up and down his body. He wanted it so bad so even though he knew Liam would either forget this or regret this in the morning, he at least got to have this memory forever. "Yeah," he finally responded as he continued to stroke himself slowly, the water around him sploshing around him. "Feels really good."

_"Fuck,"_ he heard Liam murmur on the other end. _"Wish it was me. Wish I could be touching you, stroking you. Bet you look so hot right now."_ Zayn was pretty sure he forgot how to speak the entire English language because all that could escape his mouth were panting breaths and small whimpers and moans. Imagining Liam touching him was enough to make his stomach flip, but hearing Liam's sex-dipped voice right in his ear was making it hard to focus. _"Fuck, I'm so hard, Zaynie. Wish my fist was your mouth or_ god, _your ass. I bet you're tight, aren't you, babes?"_

Zayn carefully let his phone rest between his ear and shoulder so he could bring his other hand down and circle his hole. He felt so overwhelmed, he wasn't sure he could take it if he tried to add a finger. He licked his lips and carefully slid a finger inside of him slowly, letting out a drawn out moan. "'M really tight," he managed to get out.

_"Holy shit,_ " Liam breathed out. "Are you fingering yourself right now? Gods that's hot. Wish it was me. Wish it was me prepping you for my hard prick. Bet you'd look so good with my cock in you, babes."

" _Liam_ ," Zayn gasped out. He was too overwhelmed. He wasn't going to be able to take much more. Everything was so much, with his finger inside of him, his fist tight around his leaking cock and Liam's voice in his ear, he needed to come or else he might go crazy. "Liam, please."

_"You gonna come for me, baby? Gonna come thinking of me? Do it. Wanna hear you. 'S gonna make me come,"_ he breahted out. Even though he was positive this was just some kind of drunken release for Liam, unlike the fucking fantasy come true for Zayn, Liam sounded as if he was as wrecked as Zayn was and was getting into the fantasy. Zayn continued to pump his cock faster and faster as Liam breathed in his ear, begging him to come. He was finished for. Zayn felt a spike of arousal pass through his entire body as his orgasm hit him hard. He cried out into the phone receiver, never stopping the movement of his hands. On the other side, he heard some deep panting followed by a high moan which Zayn could only assume meant that Liam came as well.

Zayn was annoyed that his bath was now soiled, but he was also incredibly nervous for what this could mean for Liam and him. Were they going to pretend like this never happened? Was their friendship going to be ruined because Liam saw this as a dumb mistake or worse, that Zayn had taken advantage of Liam in his drunk state? He didn't know what was going to happen, but he decided the only thing he could do is hope from the best.


	8. Chapter 8

Liam didn't text Zayn the next day. He didn't text the next few days either and honestly, Zayn felt a bit used. Sure, it wasn't like he was reaching out to Liam either but this all started because of Liam so shouldn't he take some responsibility in it? Liam was drunk and Zayn wasn't but it wasn't like he pursued this. He felt ignored and a bit used and the worst part was, he had no one to talk about it with. There was no way he could let Louis or Perrie know what happened. Louis would overreact about the situation as a whole, and Perrie would probably find the whole thing hot, she would flip her wig if she knew that Liam had been ignoring him since. So Zayn was stuck to wallow in his confusion alone. Zayn had a feeling that Louis knew something was up, however. Whenever they were hanging out, Zayn would check his phone and when he saw that he had nothing, his face would drop. His mood was more sullen as well so while Louis didn't push for details, Zayn knew that he was aware something was wrong that almost certainly had to do with Liam.

The positive part of the situation is that at least he was able to keep busy. He worked for the following two days which helped a bit, but then there was Louis' birthday so he had plenty to prepare for. He and Louis weren't pigs, per se, but their apartment wasn't always the cleanest, either. They were two young boys so he figured people shouldn't expect much more from them. They mostly kept the sitting area of the apartment clean but the kitchen definitely needed some cleaning. He wasn't even going to think about how much cleaning Louis was going to have to do to his room so it looked livable. Usually, the two of them would take the bus down to Doncaster for Louis' birthday and for Christmas but this year, Jay and the girls were all coming down to London to spend it with them. Zayn was excited. He still heard from his mom occasionally, but only for brief phone calls on his birthday or some other random holiday when his dad wasn't looking. He didn't hate his mother, but he definitely saw Jay as more of his mother than his own and he was okay with that.

Somehow, they were able to get all of the cleaning down before the Tomlinson clan arrived at four. Each boy was attacked with hugs as soon as the door was opened. Zayn smiled as he greeted each girl who all seemed to have grown so much since the last time he saw them over the summer holiday. As soon as he was released, he stepped in to give Jay a hug, kissing her on the cheek. "Hello, darling," she said with a smile on her face. They chatted a bit as Zayn took her bags into the kitchen and set them on the counter. Jay chastised him a bit for having even more tattoos since the last time she saw him and warned him not to get Louis into the habit as well.

Life with the Tomlinson's was never a boring one. With five kids all ranging in age, things easily turned wild. Zayn remembered when each of the girls were born and being allowed to look over at Jay while she held them on the couch. Now some of them were teenagers and even the twins were close to it and Zayn couldn't believe how fast the time has gone. Jay prepared dinner in their newly clean kitchen and refused to let Zayn cook so he was left on entertaining the girls duty with Louis. Everything was pretty amazing. Jay's dinner was fantastic as always and Zayn felt a sense of family that he couldn't have with his own which probably made these bonds more special. Louis made a bit of a fuss when Jay brought out the cake, saying that 22 was too old and blowing out the candles would just confirm it.

It was only after they started cleaning up to get ready to give Louis his birthday presents when there was a knock on the door. "I got it!" Daisy called out since Zayn was currently wrists deep in soapy water doing the dishes and Louis was, well, Louis. She skipped over to open the door and when she did, the girl let out a screech, causing everyone's heads to turn. It was Liam, looking a bit like a nervous wreck and probably confused if he might have gotten to wrong apartment. Before Zayn could even get the chance to wipe off his hands, Louis had stood up and shut the door on him, making all of the girls gasp and yell at him. 

"Louis," Zayn hissed at him as he hurried towards the door and opened it again. "Liam, what are you doing here?"

"You guys know Liam Payne and you didn't tell us!" Lottie yelled at them.

Zayn bit his lip and tried to figure out how he could explain Liam's presence without having four young girls screeching at him. "Uh, yeah," he said. _That's the best you can do, Zayn, really?_ he thought to himself. "Um, Liam and I are um, friends and Louis is just rude as always so um..." He turned back to Liam he was still standing awkwardly at the door. "What're you here for, Liam?" he asked quietly so the others in the room didn't hear.

"I just needed to talk to you," he admitted softly. "I um, was hoping we can talk in private. I'm sorry for bursting in and disturbing your evening but I um...shit."

Zayn knew that everyone was still watching them carefully so he knew that they needed to act fast. "Um," he turned towards everyone else in the room. "Liam and I need to chat about something real quick but um, we'll be back quick." Zayn motions for Liam to follow him and they walked to Zayn's room, Zayn making sure to close and lock it behind them so they couldn't be disturbed. He leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn't sure what Liam had come here to tell him, but he assumed whatever it ended up being, he might need the extra support. "Well?" he pushed.

"Zayn," Liam said, his voice shaking a bit. "I'm...I'm so sorry. I feel so embarrassed for what happened. I was drunk and...and that's not an excuse for what I did, I know that. I'm embarrassed that I let myself do that to you. You didn't deserve that and I'm so sorry for just dumping that on you. I made such a fool of myself and you as well." He sighed. "I'm also sorry for that I've been ignoring you. I just wasn't sure what I could even say or do to you that wouldn't make you mad at me."

"Not ignoring me would be a good start," Zayn snipped back and Liam nodded his head sullenly.

"I know," he said. "But this isn't easy for me, Zayn. I know you said you didn't have some big revelation about liking boys but it hasn't been like that for me. Finding you attractive has been the easiest and most difficult thing I think I've ever done.

Zayn's head snapped up quickly and looked Liam straight in the eyes. "What did you just say?" he asked.

Liam chuckled and shook his head which made Zayn kind of want to punch him in his pretty face. This was _serious_. This wasn't something Zayn would ever joke about and since there is no way Liam meant what he just said, or maybe Zayn was imagining this whole thing, this was obviously a joke. "Zayn," Liam said. "I typically don't try to have drunken phone sex with people I don't find attractive. Well," he corrected. "I don't really even have phone sex, drunk or not so I guess it's just you. I mean, I know I was drunk but I thought it was quite obvious that I wasn't like, pretending you were a girl, or something."

Zayn stood there for a minute and looked up towards the ceiling. As much as he'd like to believe that Liam could find him attractive, nothing seemed to add up logically but at the same time, Liam did seem like he was being genuine which confused him even more. "So," he said as he looked back down at Liam who had moved a couple steps closer to him. "You find me attractive."

" _Yes_ ," he said almost desperately. "I'm still not sure what to do with that information and like, really comprehend what that might mean but all I know is that right now, I just really want to kiss you."

Zayn licked his lips and looked up towards the ceiling one last time and smirked at Liam. "There's no mistletoe, though," he said.

"Can we pretend?" Liam questioned, looking over at Zayn hopefully. Even though Zayn could feel his heartbeat in his ears, he slowly nodded his head in confirmation. Time seemed to slow as Liam closed the rest of the distance between them and pressed his lips against Zayn's sending a shock of _something_ through his body. He was kissing Liam. Liam was kissing _him_. This was happening because there was no way could he imagined even in his dreams how great it would feel to have Liam's lips pressed against his own. Liam's large hand came up and cupped the side of Zayn's face, bringing their faces closer together and deepen the kiss. They didn't let it go too far. This kiss was for exploration, to test the waters. They knew with Louis' family on the other side they couldn't take this any further so eventually, they both pulled away wearing identical grins on their faces.

Unfortunately, Liam had to leave, anyway to make the drive to Wolverhampton for Christmas. He told Zayn that he was going to be gone for a few days but he'd really like it if they could meet up when he got back to have a Christmas of their own and Zayn agreed, with term of as long as Liam texted him again. Liam agreed and kissed Zayn one last time before they exited Zayn's room and went back to the main living area where all of the Tomlinson's were waiting and watching. When the girls heard that Liam had to go, Liam promised that when he returned from Christmas, he would make sure to get autographs from all of the boys and give it to Louis for them. After a round of pictures with each girl as well, Liam finally left and Zayn didn't even care that he had an obnoxious smile on his face.

The girls were still begging to know how he and Louis knew _Liam Payne_ and Zayn made sure to give them a watered down version since everything else would be just too complicated. Instead of being mad at Zayn for keeping his friendship with One Direction a secret, they were much angrier at Louis since he _may have_ let it slip that Louis had been talking to Harry as well. Louis gave Zayn a death glare since apparently he and Harry were still a "not to be talked about" subject but whatever. All is fair in love and war.


	9. Chapter 9

Liam was true to his word. After he arrived in Wolverhampton he sent Zayn a text and Zayn had to hide his smile while he was squished tight on the couch with all of the Tomlinson's watching Elf, by Phoebe's and Daisy's request. He knew that Louis was going to be wary of the situation until he was able to talk alone with him, but Zayn could hardly care. Liam had _kissed_ him and over two hours later he could still feel their presence there. Liam was going to be back home for over two days and Zayn was already eager for him to come back. He loved spending time with Louis' family, but it was Liam. The four girls would probably rather spend time with him over Zayn, too, if given the chance.

Christmas Eve was wonderful, as it always is but much more cramped then the previous years. Louis gave up his room to Jay and the twins and they all slept in his full sized bed and Zayn offered his room to the other two girls rather than them having to sleep on the couches. That left Zayn having to share a space with Louis in the living room. "So what did Payne have to talk to you about that was so urgent?" Louis questioned almost immediately after all the girls went to bed.

Zayn sighed and went to climb onto the couch and pull the blanket around him. "He was apologizing for ignoring me," he said, deciding that maybe it was best to leave out the details about the phone sex while he was in the tub. "He's been working out some stuff, I guess." There was a silence between them before Zayn added, "He kissed me."

Louis sat up from his spot quickly. Zayn wanted to pretty much be anywhere but here because when Louis was upset and decided to rant, you definitely don't want to be on the other end of it. "Zayn," he began to protest but Zayn didn't want to hear it. He _knew_ the risks. He _knew_ what could happen if they actually decided to pursue this. He wasn't daft. Liam was in a line of work that was directed at teenage girls. He made money off of the fantasy that they could have him. He knew that those could go horribly wrong and he could end up with his heart smashed to bits. He knew everything that could possibly come out of Louis' mouth but Zayn thought it was worth it.

"Don't," Zayn snapped quietly. "I know, Louis. Trust me, I know what the consequences could be but I still am willing to see what happens. Just please trust me a bit, yeah?" Louis didn't reply, but he lied back down on the couch and curled over on his side so Zayn knew that the conversation was over, at least for now. 

Christmas Day was just as good as the night before. Jay brought all of the presents that were in the trunk of the car since she didn't want anyone to try and sneak a look. Zayn woke up from a text from Liam wishing him and Happy Christmas and right away Zayn was off to a great start. Just about twenty minutes after everyone opened gifts and Jay was in the Zayn-free kitchen starting on Christmas lunch, Louis' phone began to ring. When he looked at it, Zayn noticed his eyes grow wide and if he wasn't mistaken, a blush was starting to creep onto his cheeks. "Who is it?" Zayn asked as Louis continued to let it ring. "Aren't you going to answer it?" 

Zayn peeked over Louis' shoulder and saw 'Harry' on the screen and Zayn let out a laugh. Louis gave him the finger and excused himself from the room, leaving Zayn in chuckles and his siblings clueless. He didn't return for almost ten minutes and as soon as he saw Zayn's smug grin, Louis gave him his infamous bitch-glare which did nothing to help. For the rest of the day, Zayn texted Liam and Louis tried his best to conceal that he was most likely texting Harry. When Louis' family left, Jay hugged them both tightly and told them not to be strangers and visit more often. Zayn would definitely make the effort to do so. The girls also made sure to remind Zayn about getting the autographs from Liam and the other boys and Zayn crossed his heart in promise. Thankfully, Louis didn't badger him anymore about the Liam thing because now that Zayn could dangle Harry in his face, he didn't have much of an argument. 

The days following went far too slow. Texting Liam was great but he was anxious to hang out with him now that they had their little talk. Quite obviously they needed to discuss things in more detail, but Zayn figured that could wait. Liam drove in from Wolverhampton after two days late at night and promised that he would pick Zayn up the following morning at eleven so they could spend the whole day together. Zayn felt even more nervous than the night he first met Liam because now he had some kind of expectations to what may happen. They've broken the barrier Zayn thought they could never cross so he wasn't really sure what to expect. At eleven, he heard a knock on his door and before checking himself in the mirror one last time and making sure to grab Liam's gift, he hurried to answer the door. Liam had let his facial hair grow out a bit over the past few days and now his face was covered in scruff and Zayn wanted nothing more than to feel in beneath his fingers but for now, he'd have to contain himself. 

Zayn noticed Liam looking down at his lips and then back to his eyes, questioning. He grinned and said, "There's still no mistletoe." 

"Christmas is over," Liam replied. "You can't keep using that excuse forever." Zayn chuckled just as Liam leaned in and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his lips. When he pulled away, Liam's eyes were bright and he had a big grin on his face. "Alright, let's get going." 

When they arrived at Liam's, the other boy _insisted_ that they opened presents first thing. He may almost be a grown man but Liam resembled a lot like a little boy on Christmas Day and Zayn was more than willing to indulge him. Liam handed Zayn two gifts, one that was wrapped and the other was in a bag stuffed with tissue paper. He decided to open up the bag first and when he did, he pulled out a black snap back and with his name stitched on the back. It was pretty fucking sick in Zayn's book and it wasn't something that was overly expensive like Liam could have spent which was something he was worried about. He placed the hat on his head which made Liam grin like a mad man as he started to unwrap the other present. When the wrapping paper was stripped, Zayn gasped slightly and instantly was ready to tell Liam that it was too much. It was the newest edition of the Kindle and it looked sleek and much more expensive than Zayn would ever dish out on an eReader. He wanted to tell Liam that he couldn't accept this, that the hat was more than enough, but seeing the look on the other boy's face made it nearly impossible to. "Do you like it?" he asked. "I know you read a lot, being a literature major and all, so I figured that this might be a nice way where you can read wherever." 

"It's great, Liam," he promised. "Really, even though you didn't need to spend this much on me." 

"Well, it's not exactly breaking the bank," he joked. "You should have seen the solid gold Mercedes I had picked out for you, but I figured you'd try and decapitate me." 

Zayn rolled his eyes and lightly shoved Liam in the shoulder before handing him his gift. He had worried about what he could possibly get Liam when whatever he decided to get Liam could get about a million of them, so he decided to make something personal instead. Liam unwrapped it with that same child like enthusiasm as before and his mouth fell open as he examined it. Even though literature was what he decided to make a career, art was another one of his passions that he liked to do whenever he had free time. Especially graffiti style art so that's what he decided to do. The canvas he gave Liam had the boy's name tagged in the center with the Batman symbol incorporated in the background. "Holy shit," Liam exclaimed with a laugh. "This is seriously the coolest thing. You made this?" Zayn nodded his head and Liam quickly put it down and grabbed his phone from his back pocket and snapped a picture of it. 

Almost as soon as Liam set his phone down, Zayn's own buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to see the new Twitter notification. 

**@Real_Liam_Payne:** look at this siiiick work of art that @zaynmalik made me for Christmas !! :) 

Zayn laughed and was quick to point out what a dork Liam was which did nothing but make Liam laugh as he crawled over to where Zayn was sitting on the floor. "Seriously," he said. "Thank you so much for the painting. That has to be one of the best gifts I've ever gotten. Makes me wish I had gotten you something more personal." 

"That's ridiculous," Zayn said. "Your gift was great, too. I love it, even if I'm a bit stubborn with taking expensive gifts from people." Liam grinned but instead of a response, he closed the gap between their mouths and kissed with just a bit of force. Zayn eagerly responded and brought his hand up behind Liam's neck and let the kiss become deeper. Liam pushed forward a bit more and Zayn caught the hint and let himself be lowered onto the floor until he was on his back with Liam hovering above him. It had been so long since he had been in this situation but he couldn't imagine wanting to be anywhere else with _anyone_ else. His life was pretty much a dream that he had come to accept and Zayn was going to do nothing more than to ride it out and just let things happen. 

They kissed like that for a while, really exploring each other's mouths and learning just how the other liked to be kissed. Liam's hands ended up in Zayn's hair, much to the boy's annoyance but he was hardly in the position to tell him to stop. Even though their hips were pressed together and they could feel the other's hard length against their own, they agreed wordlessly that they weren't quite in the right place to go any further than kissing. While Zayn had come to terms with his sexuality long ago, this was still new for Liam and they had more to discuss before they decided what to do next. 

When they finally did pull away, Zayn's lips felt raw from all of the kissing but he couldn't find it in him to care. Liam helped him up and they decided on a movie marathon of the Dark Knight trilogy, Zayn not wasting the opportunity to make fun of Liam's Batman obsession. They watched it under a warm blanket on the couch and the entire time, Liam had his arm over Zayn's shoulders and Zayn was resting against Liam. Before they started to third and final movie, Liam decided they had to eat and decided to get some Chinese takeway delivered so he didn't have to do anything. Zayn's stomach couldn't argue that. While they were waiting around for the delivery person to arrive, Liam took Zayn's hand and smiled at him. "What are your plans for New Years Eve?" he asked. 

"I'm not sure," he said honestly. "Usually I end up doing something with Pez and Louis but the details haven't really been discussed yet. Why?" 

"I'm having a party here," Liam explained. "I invited quite a bit of people, you know, the boys and a few other friends. Thought you might like to be there. Louis and Perrie are invited, too, of course." 

Zayn grinned and tried to imagine what a party at Liam's could be like. He was sure that a lot of people would want to go since all of the boys would be there together, and the idea of possibly having someone to share a New Years kiss with made his stomach tie up in knots a bit. Last year, his kiss had been Perrie since they were both miserably single and Louis was no where to be found so they figured what the hell? They were both still technically single, but perhaps Perrie would find someone at the party to snog for real. Even Louis seemed to have a perspective New Years kiss if Harry's persistence meant anything. He'd pretend to kick and scream about going, but he knew neither of his friends would actually object to going. "I think that'd be great," he said. 

The food arrived shortly after and Zayn's stomach couldn't be more grateful. They decided to take the food back into Liam's living room and ate cuddled up on the couch as Liam made horrible attempts to impersonate Bane's voice. Zayn gave him an 'A' for trying because seeing Liam pout after being laughed at was too painful to look at. When it was dark out and Liam had thrown all the empty containers of Chinese food away, they decided that having a night cap wouldn't be the best idea now that things between them were a bit confusing. Zayn knew that as long as they played this out right, things would be worth it in the end so that hardly bothered him. Liam drove him home and made sure to give him his goodnight kiss and Zayn couldn't wipe the smile off his face all the way up to his apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of people have been asking me on here and on Tumblr if there's going to to smut. Yes! There will be smut. It's coming very soon but everyone seems to like how this is realistic, right? Nothing is really that far fetched? I think if I just had them have sex for the sake of them having sex it would loose a lot of that since this is Liam's first experience with a guy. Just bare with me, you guys. It'll be worth it in the end.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I got so much hate for having "too much Perrie" in the last chapter she was in, I'm going to put a warning at the beginning of this one. Perrie is in here. She's going to interact with the rest of the characters and she's going to have dialogue. If this bothers you, all I have to say is grow the fuck up. I don't want to hear it. For the rest of you, please enjoy. I have a feeling you're really going to like this one x

Just like he expected, Louis threw a bit of a fit about going to Liam's party since _Harold_ would be there. Perrie and Zayn rolled their eyes since Louis was about as transparent as as a glass of water. Perrie was excited about going, even though Niall, apparently, had been on hot pursuit since they first met weeks ago and liked almost every one of her tweets. Zayn couldn't help but find humor in the situation that every member of the band that helped form at least his friendship with Perrie now had their eyes on his best friends and himself. It was a weird situation but he didn't think he could even make it up if he had tried. 

Just like before the X-Factor performance, Perrie came over beforehand to get ready in Zayn's room. Just like before, her hair was newly dyed and the black dress she picked out suited her great but she was just as nervous to impress as she was the first time they went to meet up with the boys. Zayn, on the other hand, was much less nervous since he knew that Liam would be impressed with anything he decided to wear. Even though Liam never really mentioned a dress code, he decided on a white button up shirt with the sleeves pushed up, a black tie that hung a bit loose around his neck and black skinny jeans. He figured it was casual but still nice as well. 

As soon as they were finished, they opened up Louis' door and Zayn had to hold back a laugh at how Louis was dressed. His hair was done up nicely and actually looked rather sharp which didn't happen too often. Louis turned towards both of them, Perrie covering her smile with her hand, and Louis glared at them. "Don't," he warned. "Don't you dare say a thing. This isn't because I'm going to see a certain curly-haired nuisance. I mean, this is a celebrity party. I have every right to want to look my best."

Zayn pretended to zip his lips and didn't say anything else. The look on Louis' face was far too priceless. After Perrie insisted on taking a few pictures to post to her Instagram before leaving, they called for a cab to drive them to Liam's. There was actually a guard at the entrance of the building asking for names to make sure no one who wasn't invited got in which Zayn was quite impressed by. They were allowed through and Zayn led the way to Liam's flat. The door was unlocked and when they opened the door, the party was already in full-fucking-swing. The music was loud and vibrating through the walls and there were quite a lot of people there. He couldn't see Liam, so he and Perrie opted to get drinks while Louis disappeared as soon as they walked in the doors. _Glass of fucking water, that boy is_ Zayn thought to himself as Perrie handed him some kind of mixed drink.

They walked around together with still no sign of Liam anywhere. He felt a bit out of place because he recognized a few people from the media such as Nick Grimshaw and even Ed Sheeran, which made Perrie squeal a bit, and he was just some university student that got lucky. They found themselves a place against the wall to observe the crowd, talking just among themselves when Zayn spotted someone he _really_ recognized. Danielle-fucking-Peazer, Liam's most current ex-girlfriend. Zayn felt his stomach twist uncomfortably as he tried hard not to feel jealous that she was here. Before he and Liam became friends, he remembered reading in an interview that they had remained friends but seeing her here still made him feel weird and slightly uncomfortable. The worst part was she was walking right towards them and Zayn was honestly getting more nervous by the second. "Hi," she said warmly as she finally approached them. "You're Zayn, right?"

Zayn's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped a bit from shock. How the hell would she know who he was? "Um, yeah," he said, hopefully with a neutral tone. "I'm Zayn, and you're Danielle."

She smiled and nodded her head. "That's right," she said. "I was hoping I'd catch you here. Thought we could maybe have a quick chat."

Zayn looked from Danielle to Perrie, really unsure of how to respond. Perrie seemed just as lost and decided to excuse herself to refill their drinks. _Some friend you are_ he thought to himself bitterly. Danielle took his hand and led him to a spot on the couch that wasn't currenly occupied, the same couch he and Liam had cuddled on for an entire day just a few days previous. "Liam's told me a lot about you," she said. "He kind of thinks the world of you." Zayn knew he had to look absolutely clueless because this was definitely not where he saw this conversation going. "I just wanted to let you know that he and I ended out of mutual agreement and that we're still friends, but nothing more. We were together for quite some time, as I assume you already know but there's nothing between us and there won't ever be again." She smiled and took Zayn's hands in her own and smiled brightly at him. "I've been trying to help Liam through this whole thing since he can be kind of clueless at times, and I can tell you without a doubt that the boy only has eyes for you so just give him a chance, yeah? He might need some time to work things out but his heart is in this completely."

Zayn let her words sink in a bit. He really had no idea where he expected this conversation to go, but he was kind of thrown for a loop. He knew that if this conversation didn't occur, he could most likely accept that Liam and Danielle were still friends but it would still make him a bit weary. Now, though, he kind of fell in love with how kind and genuine she seemed about everything. Zayn couldn't imagine how hard and awkward it would be to try and help your ex-boyfriend with dealing with his feelings with a _boy_ , but he got no feeling that she was being anything other than genuine. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "That means, just...thank you, Danielle."

Danielle smiled again and gave his hands a squeeze before standing back up. "I'll leave you to go find your friend," she said. "It was very nice meeting you Zayn and I hope to see you around." Zayn stood up and gave the girl a hug and when he said he hoped to see her, too, he honestly meant it.

After Danielle disappeared into the crowd, Zayn realized that Perrie still hadn't come back from getting drinks. He checked the kitchen where all of the liquor was lined up. She eventually found her leaning back against a wall talking to no one other than Niall. Both she and Louis may talk some mad shit about not being interested, but apparently just like Louis, Perrie was becoming just as transparent. He needed new friends. Not wanting to disturb them, Zayn checked his phone and pulled up Twitter. The pictures from Perrie's Instgram that he had retweeted seem to have gotten quite a bit of attention and his mouth turned down when he noticed there were some negative comments on it.

 **@ziam_inmyheart:*** @zaynmalik step away from the girl and go find Liam! :(  
 **@liamgirl96:** @zaynmalik who the hell is she??? is she a girlfriend? no no no my poor shipper heart 3

Zayn decided to tweet back to the last one to calm down any of Liam's fans since he didn't want Perrie getting any hate for being in a picture with him.

 **@zaynmalik:** @liamgirl96 Not a girlfriend. @perrie_edwards is just a very good friend :)

Right as he slipped his phone back in his pocket he felt a pair of arms wrap around his shoulders and his mind immediately went to Louis, but he realized these arms were much too muscular to be his. He looked over his shoulder and saw Liam grinning like an idiot, and Zayn quickly turned around to face him. "Heyyyy," he said. "I've been looking for you all night. I saw you talking to Danielle earlier so I figured I'd come for you later. I hope she didn't reveal any dirty secrets of mine."

"No," Zayn replied. "She was wonderful. I can definitely see why you liked her."

Liam hummed in response and started to play with the hairs at the nape of Zayn's neck. "Yes," he said. "But now I have you." Zayn wasn't totally sure how to interpret the words, but before he had the chance to, Liam asked, "Can we go somewhere private and talk? I have some things I'd like to discuss with you." Zayn nodded his head and let Liam guide him through the crowds towards his bedroom. On the door there was a sign that said "Restricted Area: Use the Guest Room" which made Zayn snicker as he followed Liam into the room. He locked it behind them and grabbed Zayn's hand and sat him down on the end of the bed. He took a deep breath and placed Zayn's hands in his lap, just like Danielle had done previously. "I've been doing some thinking since you left a few days ago," he started. "Like, I've been trying to figure out my feelings and I've just been so confused. You said that you just kind of knew that you found boys attractive, that it wasn't a big surprise, but I've never looked at a guy in that way before. When we first started texting, it wasn't really a big deal because it wasn't in person. I knew what you looked like from Twitter but you were just a great friend that just happened to be good looking but when I saw you in person, fuck Zayn, do you even know how attractive you are? You look like you just stepped out of an issue of Vogue or something and it kind of freaked me out."

Liam took a few deep breaths and ran his thumbs over the top of Zayn's hands. "It confused me so much because when we were hanging out, it was kind of like how I felt when I first started hanging out with Danielle," he continued and Zayn tried not to let any kind of jealous affect him. "You know when you first start to get a crush on someone and you get that weird fluttery feeling in your stomach and just everything they say is the best thing in the world? That's how it was with you. I just thought you were even better in person and the fact I was attractive to you was just some weird fluke. I tried to ignore it, but then I made the dumb decision to drunk dial you and you obviously know what happened. I ignored you because I just had all of these feelings that I couldn't figure out because I _haven't_ felt these things for a boy and I was scared. I was scared to step into the unknown and like, put my heart into something that was a pretty big risk. Then I couldn't stop thinking about you and all I wanted to do was to be around you again and after that first kiss, it kind of sealed the deal for me."

Zayn looked at Liam in utter disbelief. He had said so much that Zayn always wanted to hear, not even necessarily from Liam, but in general. He wanted someone to actually like him for all that he was and even if they haven't figured everything out like how they could do this with Liam being who he is and his fans and everything, Zayn had little room to doubt that Liam was ready to try and _fuck_ if that wasn't a dream come true. Zayn smiled and squeezed Liam's hands tightly. "You're kind of fucking perfect," he said, making Liam smile in relief. "I know that if we like, decide to try this it's going to be hard but I'm willing to try if you are."

"Definitely," Liam said, his grin nearly splitting his face in half. Liam released Zayn's hands and shuffled on the bed a bit before pulling out his phone. "Hm," he said aloud. "It's 11:45. Want to see if we can kiss all the way into the New Year?" Zayn let out a bark of a laugh and nodded his head. Who was he to deny that sort of request? He practically launched himself forward and quickly slotted his lips against Liam's which the other boy happily returned. They kissed with their fingers locked in each other's hair, even when they heard the countdown coming from the other room and a booming 'Happy New Year' being shout. They pulled away then, and Zayn noticed how glassy the other's eyes looked and it made Zayn instantly harden in his pants. This was it, he knew, that after tonight, he was finally going to get Liam. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * all of the Twitter names I used I seriously just made up as I went so if there are people with those Twitter names, I'm so sorry and don't mean anything by it. Obviously the tweets here are fictional and don't reflect on any real person. And just for a timeline reference, it's been about two months since the incident first occurred in case people are lost. Also, please let me know if you have any suggestions for what you want to happen! I know how this is going to end but I've gotten great suggestions while I was writing other fics that added to the fic so much so I'm curious to see how people would like this to go! Thanks for all of the support! One last thing, SMUT WILL BE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. I REPEAT: SMUT WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. People keep asking so if you were disappointed in the lack of action in this chapter, it's going to be in the next one, I swear.


	11. Chapter 11

They both decided that Liam should probably go play host for at least another hour before they locked themselves in his room for the rest of the night. They got off the bed and Zayn made sure to straighten out his clothes before walking towards the door. Before he had the chance to unlock it, Liam had turned him around and started kissing him again against it. "Down boy," Zayn chuckled as Liam continued to press kisses at the corner of Zayn's mouth. "Just go pretend like you care that your friends are here for an hour or two and then I'm all yours." That seemed to appease Liam a bit because he pulled away after one more kiss and unlocked the door, letting them both out. He locked the door behind them and waved goodbye to Zayn as they went their own ways, Liam to go mingle and Zayn to go track down Louis or Perrie.

He made his way back into the main living area and found Louis on the couch with Harry. Well, Louis wasn't actually _on_ the couch, Harry was and Louis was plopped down right on the boy's lap. He looked rather drunk and Zayn knew he had better check on him in case he was going to end up doing something stupid. When he approached Louis, he seemed to be in the middle of a rant of some sort and Harry looked completely amused. "And I don't like that Nick Grimshaw character," Louis said. "He can't seem to keep his eye off of you and he's far too tall. Listen here, Harold, are you listening? Short boys are much better in bed, I can assure you."

Zayn let out loud snort and Harry and Louis both whipped their heads around. Louis must be pretty pissed if he was completely unfazed by Zayn's presence while he was all over Harry. "You alright there, Lou?" Zayn asked him with his eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Oh, hello, Zaynie," he said with a grin stretched across his face. "I'm just fine. Young Harry here is taking good care of me, making sure I don't fall over and in return I'm keeping nasty men like Nick-bloody- _Grimshaw_ away from him."

"Heyyyy," Harry said with a pout. "Nick's my friend."

Louis rolled his eyes and scoffed loudly. "Some company you keep," he said. "You're too nice and attractive for people like him. You should stick with attractive people like me instead."

Zayn kind of wanted to gag at how sickly sweet Louis was with Harry. Even though it was obvious he was smashed, it seemed like Harry was alright and trusted him to keep his friend safe and not die from alcohol poisoning. As he turned to say goodbye, Louis was already into another drunken rant so he decided to just make his exit. He next tried to find Perrie but he couldn't see her lilac hair anywhere. He decided to make himself a drink in the meantime since he could tell his nerves were kind of starting to get to him. He was going to be having sex with Liam tonight. He and Liam were going to have _sex_. Zayn did the random hookup thing and a few short-lived relationships, but nothing was going to compare to this. Not that he would say it aloud, but he kind of imagined this since the first time he saw Liam's face on the X-Factor. He was so young and innocent looking back then, but then again, so was Zayn. His cute, clean face with the Justin Bieber haircut turned into a fucking _man_ with muscles everywhere and facial scruff that Zayn wanted to feel just about every on his body. And Zayn was going to have him, all to himself.

He gulped down the rest of his dream at the thought of that. Just out of the corner of his eye, he saw Perrie exiting the bathroom and Zayn swiped in quickly and linked his arms with hers. "And where did you go off running to, Miss Edwards?" he asked as she jumped in surprise.

"I was...." she started and huffed in annoyance. "I'm going to assume you already know and are just acting like an arse so yes, I ran into Niall. Are you happy?" Zayn smirked and Perrie hit him with her purse. "Oh, quiet you. Like you weren't just sucking face with Liam."

"Pretty sure that's what Louis was just doing with Harry," he said. "He was sitting on his lap and rattling on why short boys were better in bed."

Perrie let out a sharp laugh and shook her head. "Looks like we all have ourselves a boybander to keep on their toes," she said with a chuckle. "Except I think Louis will deny it even if he ends up walking down the aisle with Harry at the altar." Zayn couldn't agree more. They chatted a bit more and when he looked up a while later, he noticed that the crowd had thinned out quite a bit. There wasn't shoulder to shoulder people and it seemed that everyone had gone on to bigger parties. "I think I'm going to grab Louis and go home," Perrie said after checking her phone. It was only one, and for New Years it was relatively early, but Perrie was already quite drunk and Louis was probably much worse. "Mind if I crash in your bed tonight?"

"No," he said, kissing her cheek. "I won't be home tonight so it's all yours." After telling him to make sure to use protection, she left to go search for Louis. When he turned around, he noticed that Liam was waiting there with his back against the wall.

"Hey," he said with a small smile on his face. "Think I've played host for long enough. Most people left to go party in London and I'm sure the others can find their way to the door without my help." Zayn smiled nervously as Liam offered his hand to him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and followed Liam to his room again for the second time that night. Liam made sure to lock the door behind him just in case any of the stragglers tried to stumble in. They stopped right at the foot of the bed and bit down on his lower lip. "I've never done this before," he said softly. "With a boy, that is so you might need to, you know, help me a bit. Just let me know if I do anything wrong? I want this to be good for you."

Zayn had no doubt that this would be good for him no matter what happened, but Zayn knew that Liam would be nervous no matter what so he leaned in and pressed a kiss to the other boy's lips and he could feel Liam's body relax almost instantly. "Don't worry so much," he said. "We don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with or aren't ready to do. This is just as much about you as it is for me so don't feel like you'll disappoint me if we don't do something. Let's just see where this goes, yeah?"

Liam nodded his head and gently pulled Zayn onto the bed. Zayn let himself fall onto the mattress and crawled to the middle of the bed. Liam looked him in the eyes for a few moments with a nervous smile pulling at the corners of his lips and moved his hand to cup the back of Zayn's neck. He pulled their faces close and their lips found each other instantly. Liam's lips were becoming so familiar and Zayn saw no reason in wasting time in deepening the kiss. Kissing they knew and the slow exploration could wait for the new things. Zayn placed his hand on Liam's shoulder as he slipped his tongue into the other boy's mouth.

He could taste the liquor on his tongue but underneath was the taste that could only be described as _Liam_. Liam's fingers gripped at Zayn's hair making him gasp into the other boy's mouth. Zayn pressed his hips against Liam's and he could feel the outline of his hard prick pressing against his own through his jeans. The friction felt fucking wonderful and he knew it wasn't going to be long until it wasn't going to be enough for either of them. He didn't just want to feel the hard press of Liam's dick against his leg, he wanted to feel it in his hand, feel it pulse and the warmth. He wanted to know what it tasted like, just what movements with his mouth would make him turn into a puddle of goo. He especially wanted to know what it felt filling him up and stretching him. He wanted to be able to recall the memory of how it felt to have Liam inside of him for days after. He wanted everything, and he was ready to finally take it.

Zayn moved his hand from the other boy's shoulder down to the hem of his shirt, playing with the fabric. "I think we're both wearing too many clothes, yeah?" he murmured against Liam's lips. Liam nodded his head and hurriedly started to unbutton his shirt and Zayn quickly did the same. He tossed his tie somewhere on the floor and let the floor slip from his shoulders as soon as the last pesty button was undone. When he turned back to Liam, his shirt was off as well and _goddamn_ if that wasn't a fucking sight for sore eyes. Zayn had embarrassingly looked up pictures of Liam shirtless in his pre-friendship days but all of the pictures on the internet didn't do Liam justice at all. He was _ripped_ and there didn't seem to be a part of his body not covered by muscles. He had a dusting of hair that covered his torso and Zayn couldn't help but reach out and let his hands roam over the span of his chest and down his abs. "Damn," he whispered. "Remind me to thank whoever the hell your trainer is. I'll have to send them a fruit basket or something."

Liam chuckled as his eyes roamed down Zayn's own body. "And look at you," he said as he licked his lips. "I never knew that tattoos were such a turn on for me but _fuck_ , Zayn. You are absolutely beautiful." Zayn could his cheeks heat up and he thanked whatever god there was out there for his slightly darker complexion. While hearing those words ome from Liam was probably the best thing he could imagine, he didn't want to talk right now. All he wanted to do was feel. He began to play with the waistband of Liam's jeans and flicking his finger against the button. "You're really eager tonight, aren't you?"

"S'not every day you share a bed with a world famous pop star," Zayn teased and slowly unbuttoned Liam's jeans.

Liam hummed deeply and smirked at the other boy, watching as his hands lowered the zipper as well. "We'll just have to see about that." Liam started to pull down his trousers as Zayn could do nothing but stare as more of his skin was revealed. The other boy quickly kicked off his pants and was left with nothing but a pair of tight, gray briefs. With just the thin material covering him up, Zayn could easily see a clear outline of Liam and even noticed a wet patch near the head making Zayn's own dick throb with need. "And what about you?" Liam asked, breaking Zayn's daze. "Feeling a bit self-conscious here being the only one in my shorts. Let's get yours off as well, yeah?" Liam's hands were quick to get to the button and zipper undone but struggled to try to get the tight fit jeans to go down Zayn's thighs. "Fuck," he said. "If you didn't look so hot in these I'd ask why you even bothered. Help me?"

Zayn jumped off the bed, knowing it be much more effective if he could do this standing up. He pulled his jeans off and kicked them off his ankles as fast as he could so he could join Liam back on the bed as quick as possible. Liam's hands went straight to Zayn's hips, running his thumbs over his hip bones. He let Liam explore his body curiously because Zayn wanted a chance to soak Liam in as well. Liam's hands roamed over each one of Zayn's tattoos, chasing the patterns on his arm with extreme concentration. "I want to memorize each and every one of these and know the story behind all of them," he said as his hands moved back down his chest to his hips. Zayn noticed him looking down to where Zayn's obvious erection rest between his legs. Slowly, Liam's hand went down further and gently let his fingers explore the outline, making Zayn hiss. After a few seconds of testing the waters so to speak, Liam's hand grasped Zayn's clothed dick more tightly and Zayn could do nothing more than to whimper softly. When Liam began to move his hand up and down, gently squeezing at the head as he went, Zayn knew he would start to cry if he didn't feel Liam's hand wrapped around him this very minute.

Once he seemed to be used to having the weight of Zayn in his hands, Liam moved his hands to the waist band of Zayn's briefs and pulled them down slowly. Both boy's breaths hitched slightly as Zayn laid full exposed in front of Liam. The boy licked his lips before carefully wrapping his hand around Zayn's painfully hard dick and giving it a careful squeeze. "Shit," Liam said quietly. "Not quite used to feeling a dick that isn't my own."

Zayn laughed breathlessly and tugged a bit on the band of Liam's briefs. "That's because you seem to be packing a bit more heat in here than I am," he teased as he started to pull Liam's briefs down. As soon as Liam's prick was freed and Zayn was able to get a good look at it, he felt his mouth start to salivate at the sight. He wrapped his hand around the thick length much less hesitantly than Liam and gave it a good stroke which made keen. Zayn wasn't kidding about Liam packing more heat. While he wasn't as big as the rumors that found their way into the fandom, he still had good length, probably just under eight inches and he was thick as well. Zayn wasn't small by any means but feeling Liam's weight in his hand was a world of difference. 

Even though Zayn loved feeling the warm, heavy weight in his hand, he didn't come all this way just to hold it. He guided Liam down so he was lying on his back as he smirked down at him. He tried to keep a mask of cool confidence when in reality, he was kind of nervous as hell at making things good for Liam. He moved down the other boy's body, leaving kisses and small nips in his path. When he reached Liam's abs, he let his tongue drag down, running over each and every ridge of the muscle which made Liam shiver as an affect above him. He kissed each one of the boy's hipbones before lifting his head and stared down at the boy's dick which sat hard and pink against his belly. At the tip, Zayn could see a drop of precum collected there and Zayn wasn't one for wasting things sorts of things. He moved his head back down as his hand wrapped back around Liam's prick and pulled down the foreskin slightly. Liam was making rather pornographic noises, encouraging Zayn is his movements as Zayn finally took Liam into his mouth. 

Both boys moaned, Zayn sending vibrations down his prick as he began to move his head with ease. Zayn's mind was going about a million miles per minute with everything that was going on. He was in bed. With Liam and he was actually sucking his dick. Okay. That was overwhelming in itself but knowing that he was the one that was making Liam make those sinful noises. It had been a while since he had done this, but Zayn made sure to pull all of the tricks he knew which Liam seemed to enjoy. He rolled his tongue over his head, sucking on it gently, he ran his tongue along the foreskin, pulling it down just slightly. After a while, he felt Liam's large hand grip his shoulder, trying to get his attention. "Zayn," he said with a raspy voice. "Gotta stop. I'll come like this if you keep doing what you're doing. Do you..."do you want me to do you? 

The last part was asked nervously and with a bit of hesitation which was rather endearing. Zayn pressed one last kiss to the tip of Liam's dick before sliding back up his boy and his legs on either side of him. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Liam which the boy more than eagerly returned. He brought his hand up and cupped the back of Zayn's neck, slipping his tongue into his warm mouth and tasting himself there. When they broke apart, Zayn smiled at him but shook his head. "Let's not worried about that tonight," he said. "Like I said we don't have to do anything you're not ready for and I can see just how nervous you are already so maybe we should um, move on to the next step if you'd like?" 

"I think I'll need your help," he said shyly. "I mean, I know the basics but like, I've never done it before." 

Zayn kissed Liam's lips softly and pulled back. "You have lube, right?" he asked and Liam nodded his head and motioned to the bedside table. "Prepping me will be pretty simple. Just don't be afraid to take your time or else it might hurt like a bitch for me. Don't want anything to tear." Liam seemed to understand so Zayn unstraddled him and moved towards the table, pulling open the bottom drawer and pulling out the new bottle of lube as well as a condom. Zayn handed it over to Liam and got on his hands and knees in the middle of the bed. "It might be easier this way for your first time. Just remember that lube is your friend and I'll let you know if you're hurting me, alright?" 

Zayn heard the cap open on the lube and Liam squirting it onto his fingers. After a few moments, Zayn felt a hesitant, cold, wet finger pressing against his hole, making him shiver. "It's okay," he promised. "I'll be fine. You'll be fine." And with that, Liam's finger finally breached through him, pushing it's way past the tight ring of muscles. He could hear Liam mumble something about him being tight but Zayn couldn't think much past how great it felt to have one of Liam's thick fingers inside of him finally. He kept pressing forward until the digit was completely inside of him. "S'good Liam," he said. "Just move that one in and out a bit then move on to a second finger." Liam seemed to be appreciative of the instruction and started to do just that. Zayn felt the drag of Liam's finger going through him and after a few, long moments, he felt a second finger start to slip in alongside the first. This stung quite a bit more than the first and Zayn was grateful that Liam couldn't easily see his face right now because he didn't want him to stop. Liam moved both of his fingers in and out of him, twisting them just slightly to try and get a better angle which only made Zayn moan out softly. With each passing minute, Liam seemed to grow more confident with his movements and when Zayn started to push back on the two fingers, Zayn felt a drizzle of cold lube slide down his crack as Liam prepared to push a third finger in. 

Zayn had done this to himself and with others plenty of times before but Liam's fingers were so strong and thick that the stretch seemed to go further. Zayn was taking deep breaths through his nose and gripping the sheets with his fingers. Then Liam decided to curl his fingers just slightly and a shot of pleasure rushed through his entire body. " _Liam_ ," he gasped out. "Right there." Liam rubbed his fingers against that same spot again experimentally and Zayn's back arched in response. Liam had obviously found his prostate and if he kept stroking it like that there was no way he would last. "Stop," he begged as he turned his head to face Liam. "I'm good, I'm ready. Fuck me, Liam." 

Liam's eyes went wide but nodded his head slowly. Zayn reached for the condom he set on the bed next to them and unwrapped it with nervous fingers. He sat up, hissing a bit from the burn in his bum, and moved over to Liam and carefully rolled the condom down to the base of his dick. He kissed Liam and the boy instantly kissed him back hungrily, his _thankfully_ clean hand came to grip at the hair of Zayn's neck and try and force them closer together. When they separated, Zayn was left panting and licked his lips. Liam's eyes were glazed over and shined with arousal that he could only assume reflected his own. He moved to crawl back on his hands and knees but felt Liam wrap his fingers around his wrist to stop him. "No," he said. "I want to see you." 

Zayn could only smile softly and nod his head and turned back so he was lying on his back. He moved his legs apart as Liam crawled between them, squirting more lube onto his hand and coating his dick thoroughly. _This was it_ Zayn thought to himself. This was seriously about to happen and while Zayn wanted to be nervous, all he really wanted was to feel Liam deep inside of him and nothing else mattered. Zayn felt the blunt head of Liam pressing up against him and he forced himself to take a few deep breaths before Liam started to slowly press his way inside. Liam started to groan as he tried to push his way inside of Zayn's still tight hole. Zayn was feeling the burn as Liam continued to push through, trying his best to not let it show on his face. This needed to be good for Liam. He didn't want him to have any kind of guilt that could keep him from wanting to do it again and again and again. After what seemed to be hours, which was probably only ten seconds, Liam was all the way inside of him and both boy's breaths were heavy. Liam looked down at Zayn for some reassurance that he was okay, so Zayn stretched his neck to place a kiss on Liam's parted lips. "Just give me a minute," he said and Liam nodded his head. 

It took a bit longer than usual for Zayn's body to relax, both because it had been so long since he last had sex and because Liam was a bit thicker than some of his previous partners. When he felt his body relax and sag a bit to the bed, Zayn nodded his head to signal that he was ready. Liam took a deep breath as he pulled himself almost all of the way out before sliding back in. He started with a gentle rhythm which was probably for both Zayn's and his benefit. It felt a bit overwhelming at first but once Liam's hesitant and steady pace started to speed up a bit, Zayn was able to get more into it. He brought his arms up to wrap around Liam's broad shoulders, Liam moving his head down to rest his forehead against Zayn's. Liam's eyes were filled with lust and determination and if that wasn't just the sexiest thing Zayn had ever seen in his entire life. Liam's eyes stayed on his, even when Zayn's eyes snapped shut from the pleasure. His body felt like it was on fire in the best of ways, especially when Liam began to speed up his thrusts and hit against his prostate. 

This may be his first time with a man, but Liam seemed to know exactly what to do. When he noticed Zayn's reaction when he angled his thrusts a certain way, he continued to aim right in that area so Zayn swore he could see stars. He also knew to bring his hand down and stroke Zayn's prick with a firm hand which he was pretty sure short-circuited his brain just a bit. Either Liam was a fast learned or he was a sex god among men. Either way, Zayn was the one who got to enjoy it all. Both his and Liam's breathing started to get shorter and more labored and Zayn knew that at least for him, he wasn't going to last much longer. Not when Liam was determined to hit his prostate with almost every stroke and found an interest in rolling his thumb across the head of his dick. Zayn was having a stimulant overload and at this point he was just hanging on by a thread. "Liam," he breathed out right by Liam's lips. "I'm so close. I can't...I can't hold it anymore." Liam's only reply was to pull back a bit so he could slam his hips with more power and picked up the speed with his hand. With one last twist of his wrist over Zayn's overly sensitive dick, Zayn was a goner. His back arched off the bed and he let out a shout as his orgasm hit him like a ton of bricks. He felt like he was shooting for days or maybe it was weeks but when he _finally_ finished, his body completely sagged against Liam's mattress. 

When he was able to come down from his post-orgasmic high, he saw that Liam was sitting on his knees smiling at Zayn. Zayn looked at him confused, especially when he noticed that he was no longer wearing a condom and that his dick was lying flaccid. "You came?" he asked with his brows pulled together in confusion. 

Liam chuckled and nodded his head. "Yeah," he said, moving up the bed to lie right next to Zayn. "I came pretty much right as you did. You just took a while to come back from dreamland, it seems." 

Zayn's mouth turned into a small pout at the news. "Fuck," he said annoyingly. "I really wanted to see what you looked like when you came." 

Liam let out a roaring laugh as he moved over to press a kiss to Zayn's cheek. "Don't be too disappointed, babe," he teased which made Zayn scowl slightly. "We can try again and again, and again until you are able to see it." Zayn's face evened out at that and a smile returned to his face. Even though he missed Liam's orgasm, it seemed, he still felt warm inside and he felt the happiest he had been in a long time. Liam told him he'd be right back, that he needed to check to make sure everyone had left and that his front door was locked. The whole time he was gone, Zayn's smile remained on his face as he thought about how fucking lucky he was to be where he was and how happy he was in that very moment. Liam crawled back into bed and pulled the covers around him and Zayn and pressed his body right up against Zayn's back with his arm draped over Zayn's middle. He pressed a kiss right behind Zayn's ear and whispered 'goodnight' before both of them slipped into a relaxing, deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally smut. Yayyyyy. Hopefully people weren't disappointed and it was worth the wait. Let me know what you think, I always like to hear feedback from you guys. I'm pretty sure the next chapter is going to be in Liam's POV again and these two will start to figure out how their relationship will work with Liam being who he is. Thanks again!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Liam's point of view. Woo~

Liam could definitely say that this was probably one of the best starts to a New Year that he could ever imagine. Zayn was lying in bed with him with his face buried into one of his pillows, his lips slightly parted, and looking completely at peace. He looked beautiful. So much had changed over the past two months that Liam was a bit overwhelmed. He went from being just a typical twenty year old lad, apart from being a world famous pop star, who never once looked at a boy in _that_ way to having a boy curled up with him in bed and never wanting to let go. He wasn't quite sure how to explain it at all, really. He still found girls attractive, that much he knew, but he wasn't sure he found boys other than Zayn attractive. I mean sure, he could see the appeal of other guys like and how someone could find them attractive, but he never felt the way you usually feel when you yourself find another person attractive. He wasn't sure what that meant about his sexuality but he could try and figure that all out later.

What was more important than that, was how to proceed from here. They hadn't established any kind of term for what they are, but Liam could only assume that after tonight, they were heading down the path towards a relationship. That's what he wanted, anyway. That posed quite a big problem, though. Even though a lot of his Twitter notifications have been about Zayn and him, giving them the name of "Ziam", he wasn't sure how the majority of their fans would react knowing that he was not only in a relationship, but in one with another man on top of that. He didn't even want to think about how big of a headache it would be dealing with their management either. That was a conversation he dreaded but knew that he should get that out of the way as soon as possible. He carefully removed his arm from around Zayn's middle to grab his phone from his jean pocket. He scrolled through his list of contacts until he found the number he was looking for.

**L** : we need to have a talk that might affect the group.

It only took about thirty seconds before he got a response.

**S** : Can you be in my office in 30 minutes?

Liam looked over at Zayn and frowned. He didn't want to wake the other boy up nor did he want to have to have him think he needed to leave, so after giving a quick response that he'd be there, he quietly got out of bed and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from his desk and wrote out a quick note.

_Zayn,_

_I had to run into town to take care of a few things but I shouldn't be too long.  
Feel free to stay and please help yourself to anything in the kitchen or in the bathroom._

_See you soon!  
Liam_

He placed the note on the bed and opened up his drawers to find something to wear. He quietly made his exit from the bedroom before grabbing his coat and his keys and heading out the door. The drive into London was a bit nerve wracking. He wasn't sure how this conversation was going to go. He really wanted to give this thing with Zayn a go, the boy deserved as much, and he was scared of what their management would do in response. He couldn't even remember the names of most of the people they set Harry up with because some of the fans questioned his sexuality and he didn't want to have to do that. As he pulled into the Syco office, he took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves before he took to walk of doom.

When he got to the right floor, he noticed that most of the building was inactive and Liam felt bad for calling this meeting in since it was a holiday, but he really wanted to deal with this as soon as possible. He walked across the floor until he was outside the only lit office there. He opened the door with a shaky hand and thought _Well, this is it_. "Liam," the man behind the desk said. "Nice to see you, mate. Have a seat."

"Thanks Uncle Simon," he said, hopefully to break some of the nervous tension he felt buzzing in the air.

"You said you needed to talk about something that might affect the group," he said, looking at Liam with arched brow. 

Liam nodded his head and started to wring his hands together. "Yeah," he said, biting down on his lower lip. "I met someone a few months ago and um, I was hoping to start a relationship with that person."

Simon laughed a bit and gave an amused smile. "That hardly seems like something that is going to affect the band," he teased.

"It's a boy," Liam said. He finally said it but Simon didn't respond right away. A heavy silence fell onto the room and Liam honestly didn't know what to expect. Simon was studying him carefully.

"I see," Simon finally replied, placing his hands on top of his desk. "And who is this boy?"

Liam licked his lips nervously before replying, "His name is Zayn. Zayn Malik."

Simon gave Liam a quizzical look like he almost didn't believe him. Simon knew about what happened with Liam on Twitter and knew the boys had formed a friendship out of the situation. He had even voiced his opinion about becoming friends with him since he was "just another fan". While Liam could see Simon's reason to be cautious, he never had any doubts about Zayn's motivations in their friendship. He didn't ask for Liam's number, Liam offered it to him. He didn't ask to go see them perform, Liam offered that, too. While they would occasionally talk about Liam's job since it was such a big part of his life, Zayn never asked imposing questions that made Liam feel like it was anything other than wanting Liam to talk about his life. He knew all of these things, but Simon had to think like a business man and what was going to be good for the company as a whole. 

"The infamous Twitter boy," he finally said with an unreadable expression. "You know how I felt about you starting a friendship with him but you're also the most sensible one in the group. You know the consequences of your actions and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize things for this group." Simon took a deep breath through his nose and looked directly and Liam before continuing. "With that being said, while I can't stop you from pursuing a relationship with anyone, I have to remind you of the consequences. In this day and age, homosexuality is more accepted than ever, but it's also not accepted by many. There is a huge possibility that the group would lose quite a bit of fans if this were to come out as gay, bi, or what have you. It's a shame that things like this have to be the case, but it's the reality we live in." Liam nodded his head. He knew all of this, but that didn't mean it would stop him from wanting to be with Zayn. He just hoped Simon could see that as well. "Like I said, I can't stop you, but I have to advice you to keep this private. I've noticed that the fans already seem to think there's something between you but I don't think they're ready for that kink of heartbreak."

"Then when?" Liam asked. "I mean, we wouldn't come out right away anyway and I mean, I haven't even technically asked him to, you know, be my boyfriend or whatever, but how long would it be before we didn't have to hide it anymore?"

Simon let out a long humming noise as he looked up at the ceiling in thought. "Let's see," he said. "Tour starts at the end of April, right? By then, the album will have been out for quite some time and all of the tickets for the show will most likely be sold out. In April, we can start out as a series of tweets that could lead people into believing that there is something going on, maybe put out some hints to the tabloids, get people talking. Then we can set up an interview with the band, and you can admit it there. We'll get the media talking about you and Zayn and bring a lot of attention to the band and the upcoming tour. Anything negative that may come after that, we'll deal with in then. Deal?"

Liam was kind of in shock at Simon's response. He assumed that he and Zayn would have to hide their relationship, be he was expecting him to say _years_ , not just months. It was all more than he expected but Liam couldn't help but feel a bit giddy in response. He rose from his chair and moved around to the other side of the desk and just like during their X-Factor days, Liam wrapped his arms around Simon and hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much, Simon," he said.

Simon looked just slightly amused as he pulled away which made Liam smile in return. "Don't fuck this up, Payne," he threatened. "And remember that he'll have to sign the same confidentiality agreements as Danielle did. That doesn't change just because this one's a boy."

Liam left his meeting with Simon in a much better mood than he thought he was going to have. He was allowed to be with Zayn and in just three months, he'd be able to let everyone know about it. He had a big grin the whole drive back to his flat and took the steps two at a time to try and get to Zayn was quickly as possible. When he finally made it to his door, he opened it and instantly was hit with the smell of food. Liam's stomach growled loudly and he realized he hadn't eaten since last night. He could hear sizzling coming from the kitchen and when he walked closer, he saw Zayn in front of the stove, wearing nothing but an apron that Liam didn't even know he had. He walked up right behind him and pressed himself against the boy's back and kissed behind his ear. "You know," he said. "It's dangerous to cook bacon without wearing any clothes."

Zayn twisted leaned his head back and hummed softly. "You're worth the possible threat of danger."

Liam chuckled and continued to kiss the same spot behind the other boy's ear. "Thanks, babes," he said. "Speaking of being worth the danger, I talked to Simon Cowell today."

Zayn's entire body stiffened in response to his words. "And what did he have to say?"

Liam filled Zayn in on everything that he and Simon had talked about and how he was going to let them come out as a couple in just a matter of months. Zayn turned of the stove and moved the pan to another burner before turning around so he could face Liam. "Are you saying you want us to be together?" he questioned. "Like, really be together? It's a big risk, Liam and I don't want you to do anything that could hurt your career and have you resent me for it later."

Liam pulled Zayn in close and crashed their lips together into a deep, passionate kiss. Zayn responded just as eagerly as he usually would and when the broke apart, Liam cupped Zayn's face with his hands and looked him straight in the eyes. "I could never resent you for something that makes me happy," he declared. He pressed another kiss, much softer than the one before, on the boy's lips before his lips turned into a smirk. "So what do you say, Zayn Malik? Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

Zayn smiled, and replied, "Do you really even need to ask?" The kissed again for a bit longer and neither could find it in them to care that the breakfast Zayn made was cold when they finally broke apart. It was completely worth it.


	13. Chapter 13

A few days later, Simon called an "emergency" meeting to discuss the plan that he and Liam had decided for what is going to happen with him and Zayn. The management team seemed a bit hesitant, but agreed that even though this could lead to some negative comments and the loss of fans, doing it right before their biggest tour was the best way to go since it would bring in a lot of publicity and even if there were fans that wanted to leave, ticket sales would already be finalized. Liam obviously didn't care about that part but he would do anything it took to be able to have an open relationship with Zayn one day.

When the meeting was done, the three boys walked out together side-by-side. "So what are you going to do for Zayn's birthday?" Harry asked suddenly, making Liam literally stop in his tracks.

"What?" he asked.

Harry gave him a confused look and scratched at the back of his head. "Zayn's birthday is like, next week. Louis has been texting me about which colors would go better with Zayn's skin tone for some shirt he has been eyeing for him. Don't tell me you didn't know?"

Truth was, Liam had absolutely no idea. Zayn had never brought it up while they were together and they hadn't known each other long enough to where he should remember the date like the back of his hand. He wondered why Zayn would want to keep something like that from him. He knew that Zayn didn't like it when Liam spent money on him but surely they could do something that didn't involve much money? They were officially dating now, boyfriends, so Liam deserved to spoil him a bit on his birthday of all days. He definitely had some thinking to do to make that day good.

Over the next few days, Liam did his best to hide his plans from Zayn. They hung out a few times over that week, but he made sure to leave the other boy in the dark. They continued their sexual relationship, both never being able to get enough of the other, and Liam was getting much more used to being with a boy. He wasn't as hesitant as he wrapped his hand around Zayn's dick and the last time, even licking a bit of his cum from his hand just to see what it tasted like. It wasn't as bad as he thought, but he definitely saw Zayn as a saint for being able to swallow his entire load. 

Zayn introduced Liam to rimming as well. At first, Liam turned down the idea right away. There was no way he was putting his tongue _there_ or wanting anyone else's tongue there. He couldn't see what the appeal could be, but when Zayn looked at him with those sparkling golden eyes of him, Liam relented and boy, was he glad he did. It was awkward at first with Zayn's tongue lapping at his entrance, a place where absolutely nothing had gone near before, but Zayn had one wickedly talented tongue and was able to win him over on that one.

The morning of Zayn's birthday, Liam decided to let the fans tell Zayn that he was aware of his birthday and that there was no escaping it.

**@Real_Liam_Payne:** heyy everyone!! go make sure to wish @zaynmalik a happy 21st birthday!!! :)

He smiled as he hit send and waited for a few moments before typing in Zayn's name to his search bar and saw the tweets that were already piling up. A lot of them were just wishing Zayn a happy birthday, others included mentions of Ziam, and those were secretly his favorite. It only took about an hour before "Happy birthday Zayn" was trending worldwide and Liam knew that phase one of his birthday plan was done. It took about an half hour longer before he got the phone call he was expecting. "Happy birthday, birthday boy," he said cheerily into the phone.

"Who told you?" he questioned.

Liam chuckled and plopped down on his couch. "Harry may or may not have let it slip," he revealed. "Why in the world would you want to hide that from me? Birthdays are supposed to be happy days. Everyone loves birthdays."

"Well, I don't," Zayn said with a huff. "I just don't like having people treat me special. It's just another day, really. Plus, I knew you'd probably spend a ridiculous amount of money on me which you know I don't like. Your gift on Christmas is more than enough."

Liam frowned. He didn't want Zayn to feel so upset on his birthday. Perhaps someone's birthday was just another day, but it was a day worth celebrating, at least in Liam's opinion. He was definitely glad that Zayn was born on this day twenty-one years ago. He sighed into the phone and pouted his lips just slightly. "I'll have you know that I didn't spend any money on you," he said. "And even if I had, I deserve to spoil you a bit. I'm your boyfriend now, yeah?"

There was a silence on the other line followed by a small huff. "Fine," he said. "I'll let you do what you want with me today."

Liam's grin stretched across his entire face. He was expecting a bit more of a fight, but he wasn't going to complain. He wanted Zayn's birthday to be a positive day for him, not one that he dreaded. Liam told Zayn that he'd be there to pick him up at 6:30 and that he needed to be ready by then and to look at least kind of nice. Zayn was suspicious, but agreed anyway. For the rest of the day, Liam lounged around his flat, occasionally checking his Twitter to see the tweets for Zayn. He noticed around two in the afternoon that #ziambirthdaysex was trending worldwide as well and he knew that Simon wouldn't be too pleased about that one. Oh well, it wasn't his fault.

About an hour before he needed to pick Zayn up, Liam got ready for the night. He was wearing black dress slacks and a white button up with the sleeves rolled up so he at least looked a bit casual. He finished it off with a black skinny tie. He checked himself out in the mirror, making sure that everything, including his hair, was in place before grabbing his keys and leaving to go pick up Zayn. When he arrived, Zayn was waiting outside of his apartment building wearing a tight pair of khaki pants and black dress shirt. His hair was in a quiff today which made Liam smile as the other boy crawled into the car. "Hey," he said and taking the other boy's hand and giving it a small squeeze. "Happy birthday." Simon had informed them that under no circumstances were they to kiss when they were anywhere remotely public. Even though Liam didn't see any kind of paps hiding around, it didn't mean they weren't there. Under most circumstances, it would be tolerable but there was something about seeing Zayn dressed up that made him want to snog the boy senseless. 

"Hey," Zayn said as he gave Liam's hand a squeeze in return. 

"You look rather dashing," he said as he rubbed his thumb over the top of Zayn's hand before he started to drive off. 

Zayn slid his hand into his lap and looked over at Liam with a smirk on his lips. "Yeah, well, I have to be if I must be seen around with you all the time," he replied. "I can't go around looking like a bum when I'm dating a world famous celebrity, now can I?" 

They both continued to joke around with each other as Liam pulled into a restaurant that thankfully he was able to pull some strings and get a reservation for pretty last minute. When they walked toward the restaurant, side-by-side, Liam so desperately wanted to grab Zayn's hand but he spotted some paps near the entrance of the restaurant. Someone at the restaurant had obviously tipped them off just who the reservation was for. He buried his annoyance however because he knew that if he didn't, they'd write some ridiculous story that explained the scowl on his face that was far fetched and obviously untrue. He greeted them politely, making sure to give the cameras a smile as he and Zayn walked into the restaurant together. "That was weird," Zayn said as the doors closed behind them. "Never thought paparazzi would ever try and gate crash my birthday before." 

Liam smiled and told him he better get used to it, as they approached the front. The girl standing behind the counter gave a small squeak when she realized who he was and offered to show them to their reserved area. Liam really hoped that everything was set up like he hoped for and when they were brought around a corner to a private room, he saw right away that it was and Liam felt his shoulders sag with relief. Since he wasn't allowed to take Zayn on public dates until April, he figured this was just as good, if not better considering the occasion. Inside of the private room, Louis, Perrie, Harry and Niall were all there waiting for them and Liam looked over at Zayn to see the boy's eyes light up. Zayn looked over at Liam and smiled at him before Perrie skipped over and pulled him into a hug. Liam was so glad that things worked out even though they were last minute. He knew that even though Zayn says he doesn't like the attention, that he was appreciative anyway. 

Dinner was great and so was the conversation. They were left alone for the most part, so Liam allowed himself to slip his hand onto Zayn's thigh palm up so the other boy could slip his hand into his. They shared a few secret smiles with each other but mostly kept the conversation flowing with everyone else in the group. After around eight-thirty by the time they all left and Liam couldn't wait to get home. He had a few more tricks up his sleeve that he wanted to use before the night was over. 

Their conversation in the car was light but still continued through the entire car ride. He was sure Zayn could sense that there was going to be something else coming once they got back to Liam's flat, but Zayn was most likely wrong about anything he could be thinking of. Liam had done quite a bit of thinking and he thought he was ready for what he planned on happening. 

As soon as they were securely behind the door of Liam's flat, Liam's arms wrapped around Zayn and their lips met in an electrifying kiss. Liam wanted nothing more than to kiss this boy just like this the entire night and he wasn't going to waste any time now that he had the chance. His fingers grabbed at the fabric of Zayn's shirt almost desperately to try and bring them close together, even if it wasn't possible. Eventually, though, they pulled back and Zayn looked almost breathless. Liam smirked at him and offered the other boy his hand so he could lead him back to the bedroom. Zayn took the hand eagerly and they walked back to Liam's bedroom, Liam kicking the door shut behind them. 

Liam kissed Zayn again, this time with much less aggression. This kiss was a lot sweeter and much slower. He pulled away after a few long moments, and smiled at Zayn, his eyes looking directly into his. He brought his hand up to stroke his cheek with the pad of his thumb. "I know you didn't want me spending money on you today so apart from dinner tonight, I haven't," he promised. "But for your birthday present, I'd like to try something. For you." 

Zayn gave him a quizzical look but Liam knew that he trusted him. After telling him to strip himself of his clothes and to lie down in the middle of the bed, Liam rid himself of his own clothes and stood back and watched Zayn. He had done just as he was told. He was sitting back on his elbows on the bed and he was completely naked. Even though Liam never thought his life would go down this path, he couldn't believe just how lucky he was to have found a guy this fucking beautiful and that he was all his. The outline of his abs were defined and every single one of his tattoos seemed to enhance his body, if that was even possible. Fuck, Liam Payne was definitely one lucky guy. 

Liam finally moved towards the bed and climbed on and moved between Zayn's legs. He pushed the boy's knees further apart before lowering himself down so his mouth was hovering just over Zayn's dick. Zayn gasped as soon as he realized what Liam was planning on doing which made Liam chuckle softly despite his own nerves. He brought his head down further and placed a kiss on Zayn's swollen head and the other boy's head rolled back. Liam then gave an experimental lick and once he felt like he was ready, he very slowly lowered himself down Zayn's hard prick. It was very awkward at first. Liam really had no idea how to relax his throat or really how to move in a way that wasn't weird and just _awkward_. Thankfully, no matter how awkward Liam felt about it, Zayn was making small moans and whimpers above him and if anything, it was an encouragement. 

It took a while, but Liam was pretty sure he started to build somewhat of a rhythm. He still couldn't take Zayn in his mouth completely, but he hoped that maybe with practice, he could one day. All he wanted to do was to bring Zayn the most pleasure he could and it seemed that at least right now, he was accomplishing that at least a bit. After a bit, Liam felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked up at Zayn with his prick still in his mouth. "Liam," he said, his voice raspy and heavy. "Liam, come on, babes quit teasing. Fuck me." 

Liam released Zayn with a 'pop' which sounded a bit pornographic but that was alright. "No," Liam said. "This day is about you. I was honestly scared shitless to try this but this is all for you and I can't promise that I'll, um, you know...swallow it but I want to see you come just from, uh, my mouth." Liam expected a fuss if he was honest, but Zayn just let out a needy moan so he figured that was his all clear to continue. 

He got a little more experimental after that. Liam tried his best to mimic the moves that Zayn used on him that made him crazy. He sucked on just his head for a bit, rolling his tongue which he didn't quite have the hang of, and he even brought his hands down to cup the other boy's balls, giving them small squeezes and rolling them in his hand. Zayn was keening at everything which made Liam feel pretty fucking proud. After a while, he felt another tap on his shoulder and he was about to tell Zayn to fuck off, that he was going to continue, but the boy just breathed out "I'm close. I'm going to..." 

Liam tried his hardest to prepare himself, but not very surprising, it was _incredibly_ difficult for him to try and suck and swallow a fucking liquid that was gushing into his mouth. Eventually, he needed to pull off and coughed as he tried to swallow all of what was in his mouth. It seemed to work, mostly, but Liam still felt a trail of it going down his chin. Liam swiped it with his thumb and sucked it off, trying to make as small of a mess as possible but when he looked down, he saw that Zayn's belly was still a bit coated in his own cum and _damn_ if that wasn't a hot sight. 

Zayn was smiling sheepishly at him as Liam moved towards him and press a kiss to the other boy's lips. He hummed softly as they pulled away, taking Liam's hand in his own. "See, Superstar?" he teased. "The best things in life are free." They both laughed at that and brought their lips together in for another kiss. "Let's go shower so I'm not all sticky with my own jizz," he said. "And after we can go right into round two." Liam didn't think he had ever gotten out of bed faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think the next chapter is going to be an overview of the next few months before they're allowed to come out and all the different things they had to do to prepare (telling Liam's parents, ect) so stay tuned for that. Also, I've been updating every day but that won't be the case starting tomorrow. I go back to school tomorrow and I work all day on Monday so getting time to write will be a bit of a stretch, and my boyfriend comes back after being gone for a month on Tuesday so I will be nowhere near a computer so yeah. For those who have been commenting after almost every chapter, thank you so much. You guys really are what keep me going. If you want better updates to when I'll next update, check out my Tumblr since I'm sure I'll get messages from people asking and I can answer better. Thanks again and I hoped you liked it!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Zayn's point of view.

The next few months were an experience, that's for sure. He kind of knew what he was getting into when they first started to try things out but all of it was almost overwhelming. After his _amazing_ birthday, Zayn had to go into the Syco offices and have a meeting with no one other than Simon Cowell. Even though Liam told him that it was going to be fine, that Simon was actually a big softie, he still held his breath as he and Liam sat down across from one of the most well-known people in all of Britain and pretty much all over the world. He was pleasant and Zayn could tell he was trying to figure out if he approved of him or not. He explained the plan that Liam had already told him about and he was on board, even if he was scared about coming out to the public. He had to sign a confidentiality agreement saying he wouldn't spill any band secrets and things of the sort, which Zayn signed without hesitation. He knew this was a risk, not just for him but obviously for Liam and all of the people involved in his career. If signing paperwork saying he won't be an asshole would make everyone happy, he would do it.

That part was easy compared to meeting Liam's parents two weeks later. Zayn never had any real "serious" boyfriends before so he didn't have any experience meeting someone's parents. Apparently Liam had mentioned that he was interested in someone over Christmas and forgot to mention that the person was a boy. Liam promised him that his family wasn't homophobic, but he was admittedly a bit nervous for how they were going to react when they saw that the person he was bringing home was a guy. Even with their worried thoughts, things went great. Liam's family welcomed him in with open arms and didn't seem to really bat an eyelash at the fact that he was a boy. Zayn was so relieved that he was so accepted among them and Karen made them both promise to come back to visit again soon before Liam had to go back on tour.

Tour was something that Zayn was kind of dreading. Liam kept promising him that he would get flown out every so often, so they could see each other, they would still go over a month without seeing each other and Zayn was scared. He knew he would miss Liam and trusted that he would never cheat, it was scary that they were going to jump into this public relationship and he'd have to face a lot of it alone. Liam would be off being a rock star and Zayn would be at home to face the paparazzi and possible backlash alone. It was worth it in the end, though. He knew it was. At least up until the tour starts he had his job and school work to focus on.

Going to school had become a weird phenomena. He and Liam were openly friends and after the pictures of them from Zayn's dinner surfaced on the internet, Zayn noticed people staring at him a lot. At first, he thought he was imagining it until one day he came across a tweet with a picture of him in the library attached to it from that day. That was a bit weird, but soon the on-lookers began to approach him. The all tried to act like they were just interested in Zayn, but after almost five minutes, each and every person would bring Liam up and Zayn was forced to end the conversation right there. Zayn wasn't a very social person to begin with. He had his small select group of friends and that was it. Before Liam, he had Louis and Perrie and that was pretty much it. Now, he obviously included Liam in that category and even he, Harry and Niall had become pretty good friends as well. He was happy with just that and he refused to let anyone else in just because they wanted to get through to the boy's.

Another strange occurrence that happened during that time was receiving a phone call from his mother. She didn't call him on Christmas, or New Years, or even his birthday, so Zayn was pretty surprised when she called him out of the blue in the middle of February. Even though Zayn was still bitter that she didn't fight for him, he _was_ her only son after all, when his dad kicked him out, he loved his mother and would never ignore her calls. Apparently, one of his sisters had let it slip that Zayn was friends with the members of One Direction and showed her an article about Zayn's birthday dinner with "The 1D Boys". Up until that point, Zayn had never been really angry with his mother, but this ripped him apart. She didn't call to check on him, she was calling because he had famous friends. He ended that phone call pretty quick and told her not to call back unless she was actually interested in him as a son.

It was now the beginning of April and Zayn knew that things were going to start to set in motion for their coming out. Apparently Liam's management team were sending out "tips" to different tabloids that Zayn and Liam were more than just friends. On the day the information was meant to be leaked, he and Liam sat in front of Liam's computer and waited. They googled Zayn's name and after a few hours, stories were circulating about the state of their relationship and questioning whether or not they were more than friends. None of them were necessarily hurtful. Some pointed out things they already knew like the risk it would be to come out and what would the fans would think, while others said they would be supportive if the information was true. Their Twitters blew up as well. Zayn had close to 500k and the numbers seemed to keep rising every minute. Trends started world wide and thankfully, all of them were positive. As they were going through Liam's notifications, however, they were forced to see a few people that refused to believe that Liam could ever be gay and that this was just some media bullshit. Some even claimed that Zayn was just a gold digger which wounded him a bit but kept a brave face on for Liam.

A couple of days after the media storm, Liam and Zayn were set to go out on a public outing where there would be some PDA. Simon advised them not to kiss yet, but flirting and some touching would be ideal. It was one of the only clear days that London had in a long time so they decided that they'd go shopping in London together. Zayn warned Liam right away that this outing was for the camera's only and he wasn't allowed to spend money on him. They drove down to London's shopping district and Zayn already noticed people watching them as they entered the first shop. Zayn felt uncomfortable forcing his affections on Liam just to get people talking, but the entire time they were out, Zayn would occasionally lean into Liam and at one point Liam even slid his hand into Zayn's back pocket.

Liam didn't keep his promise about not spending money, but Zayn was too nervous about when they arrived back to Liam flat to care. Tons of pictures from their outing surfaced, and even more news stories circulated. Zayn was scared, because he knew the next step of their coming-out plan was an interview. They would wait a few days to keep people interested, announce the interview about Liam responding to the rumors, and then hope for the best.

The day of the interview, Zayn was a bundle of nerves. He was sitting in his apartment with Louis and Perrie, waiting to see the interview that would change Zayn's life probably forever. Zayn was sitting on the couch, biting his thumb nervously and Perrie had to practically rip his hand from his mouth to stop him. The boys were going to be on Jonathan Ross' show since their management seemed to have a good relationship with the producers of the show and thought it would be a good environment to announce this sort of news. Jonathan was doing his intro and as soon as he heard him announce 'One Direction' Zayn sat up straight and turned up the volume on the telly.

The boys each shook Jonathan's hand before sitting down on the couch. Zayn could tell Liam was nervous. He wasn't obvious about it, but he could tell by his body language that he was just as nervous as Zayn felt and he wished that he could be there to calm him down more than anything. They talked for a bit, before the big question was asked. _"So, Liam,"_ Jonathan started. _"You've been getting a lot of media attention recently. For the past few weeks, there's been rumors circulating about you and your friend, Zayn Malik, who if I'm correct is the same bloke that called you when you accidentally tweeted your number out back in October."_

Liam shifted his weight a bit and sat forward with his hands laced together in his lap as he nodded his head. _"Yeah,"_ he said. _"Zayn and I actually became really good friends after that incident."_

_"And he's been spotted in the audience for your UK X-Factor performance, you were all papped going into a restaurant back in January for his birthday and just over the past week or so, you were spotted shopping together in London,"_ A picture of them in London with Liam's hand in his back pocket popped up on the screen. _"So I'm sure everyone is curious with all the rumors flying around what the truth is."_

Liam took a deep breath through his nose before saying, _"The truth is that the rumors are true."_ Zayn held his breath as he waited for Liam or _someone_ to say something else because this was fucking nerve wracking. _"Zayn and I are in an actual relationship._

_"So does that mean that you're gay then?"_ Jonathan questions. _"Because you were in a long-term relationship with Danielle Peazer. Was that a cover up?"_

_"No,"_ Liam responded. _"Danielle wasn't a cover up. We had a real genuine relationship. As for my sexuality, I don't really know what it is. I've never thought of boys in that way, I never found myself checking out boy's in the locker room or whatever. I liked girls, I _still_ like girls. I guess I just find myself Zayn-sexual."_

The audience laughed which made Liam perk up a bit. He was doing so good and Zayn was really proud of him for being so brave. He'd have to show him just how proud of him he was the next time he saw him. _"I mean,"_ Jonathan continued. _"I can almost see why you'd find this lad appealing I mean look at him here."_ A picture from Zayn's Instagram was pulled up and he was kind of mortified. Louis and Perrie didn't waste a minute poking fun at him for it and he had to tell them to shove off so he could watch the rest of the interview. _"He's a good-looking bloke. If things don't work out, Liam, you should send him my number."_

For the rest of the interview, they strayed away from their relationship and started including the other boy's into the conversation as well. They talked about tour and other band related things before the show was over. Zayn felt a big on edge knowing the rest of the world was getting ready to judge him and Liam, but he was glad because now it wasn't a secret. Now they could be together and have it not be some weird taboo thing they had to keep hush-hush. Perrie had taken his phone so he couldn't check it and told him the only way he could get it for the rest of the night was when Liam calls. He was grateful in a way. He wasn't sure he wanted to see what kind of shit storm was brewing over the interview but he still scowled at her and called her an evil bitch. He may have been hit in the face with a throw pillow but it was worth it.

The rest of the month was a fucking whirlwind. A lot of the media attention they were got was positive, which he was grateful for and according to Liam's management team, there haven't been any real affects in the sales either. There was negative press, of course, and everyone knew that they lost some fans, but for every fan Liam and the boy's lost, the seemed to have gained two more for their honesty and openness about their relationship. It wasn't something that anyone hade expected. Liam was busy packing and getting ready for tour and Zayn was trying to get ready for his finals, but they tried to spend as much time together as possible. Even if that meant Zayn reading a text book on top of a pile of clothes on Liam's bed as the other boy tried to pack.

Saying goodbye was really hard. Zayn was scheduled to fly out to Brazil on May 7th to meet them as they arrive for their last stop on the Latin American leg of the tour. Zayn would be done with his finals and they were there long enough to make it worth the trip. They had three shows there, and after, they had a short break before heading to Ireland so he and Liam were going to hang around Brazil for a few days more before returning to the UK. Even knowing it would be such a short time before he got to see Liam again, he still hated seeing him leave at the airport.

On the night of the first concert of the tour, Zayn was up late studying for his upcoming finals. It was around just after one in the morning when his phone buzzed on his desk beside him. When he saw it was from Liam, he was surprised since Liam should be on stage right about now in Colombia. Attached to the message was a video and when Zayn clicked on it, he could see a sea of people and they were all shouting something. He put his ear right up to the speaker and he could hear that they were chanting "We love Zayn". Zayn smiled as he pulled his ear away from the speaker and saw the camera move so it was facing Liam. _"Miss you babe,"_ he heard Liam say even through all of the noise. _"Lots of love from Colombia."_ The video cut off and Zayn couldn't wipe the smile off of his face. His life had changed so dramatically over the past six months. He went from just an ordinary university student who worked at a bookstore to being in a public relationship with one of the most famous people in the world. He never had much support growing up, especially after he was kicked out but now he had two of the best friends he could ever have hoped for, a boyfriend that would jump through hoops for him, and oddly enough, the support of millions of people across the globe. He always found himself wanting to pinch himself to see if this was truly not just a dream but truth be told, his life just happened to be just a dream come true and he couldn't imagine anything better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess this is kind of the end. I wasn't really sure how I was going to end this but when I finished writing it just seemed like a really good place to spot. With that being said, there will be an epilogue that comes out after this sometime this week. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this story and given me so much love. You guys are fucking amazing. I really hope you enjoyed this and I hope to see you around the next time I decide to write a fic.


	15. Epilogue

**Five Years Later**

March 12, 2019

_One Direction Is Tossing In The Towel_

_World famous boy band, One Direction, have decided to call it quits after being together for the past eight years. Sources say that the split was a group decision and has nothing to do with any artistic differences or clashes in the group. After touring for so long, the boy's seem more than ready to settle down with their respective partners. Niall Horan, 25, and his girlfriend of the past four years, Perrie Edwards, 25, have had pregnancy rumors flying around for months and while both parties claim that there is no pregnancy, perhaps now that the boys aren't going to be working, a pregnancy wouldn't be such a far fetched idea._

_Harry Style, 25, once the teen heart throb of the group, admitted to being in a relationship two years ago with sixth form drama teacher, Louis Tomlinson, 27, and rocked the entire world and the One Direction fandom when he became the second member of One Direction to be in a relationship with another man. Most people in the industry thought that after Harry's announcement, the band would surely end due to a lack of support, but as the Directioners have proved with the coming out of Liam Payne's, 25, relationship with Zayn Malik, 26, who is graduating with his PHD in May, they will stand with their boys through anything._

_So what will happen with the 1D boys, or should we say **men** , now that they have time to settle down? We know for a fact that Liam Payne is interested in settling down with his partner. Last year, in an exclusive interview, Liam admitted to always wanting the typical married life and that hasn't changed since being in a relationship with a man. So who knows? Maybe now that Mr. Malik is going to become Dr. Malik next month, maybe we'll hear wedding bells in the near future. We here at Sugarscape can only hope. Although Zayn, we suggest keeping the last name because even though you'll be a doctor in Literature, Dr. Payne sounds a little intimidating._

Zayn chuckled as he read over the article that had been tweeted at him hundreds of times in the past few hours with people asking him if he was going to be changing his name to Dr. Payne. He decided to send out a tweet to help keep his 3 million followers at bay.

 **zaynmalik:** @sugarscape Thanks for the advice! Not sure about the name yet but Dr. Payne does have a nice ring to it ;)

He knew that would cause quite a stir and bring up more engagement rumors, but Zayn figured that was alright. While he and Liam had a rough idea of where they wanted to go together in life and knew they didn't plan on every breaking up, marriage was kind of a subject they didn't have any real serious, sit-down conversations about it. He watched and read every interview that Liam had been in even before they got together and he _knew_ what Liam wanted, but they still haven't really _discussed_ it with each other. Zayn was too nervous to bring it up on his own and really, they were both too busy to even consider about getting married but with Zayn's approaching graduation and Liam's retirement, Zayn had been thinking about it more and more. He liked the idea of getting married to Liam. Growing up, he never really thought much about it and when he figured out he was gay, he pretty much through that idea out of the window. Gay marriage was legal in the U.K. as well as many other parts of the world and it was becoming more and more accepted, and he had the best partner he could ever hope for so maybe marriage wasn't such a bad idea after all.

One thing he was scared of that he knew Liam really wanted was kids. Kids were alright, and Zayn helped his mum a lot when his two younger sisters were born but those were his sisters. If they decided to have kids, it would be their sole responsibility. Zayn would be held responsible for how people, actually living, breathing _people_ turned out. The closest thing he had to that kind of responsibility was when Liam decided they should get a dog when Zayn moved in after their first year of being together. Loki was great, and yeah, he had to feed and take care of him but it was pretty hard to fuck up taking care of a dog. People were much more complex and had emotions and needs and it really, _really_ freaked Zayn out.

He supposed he should worry about other things, like graduating and finishing editing his final doctorate paper. He sighed as he sat up a bit on the bed and pulled his laptop to his lap as he continued reading his editing, Loki at his feet chewing a bone at his feet. He scratched behind his ear a bit and smiled as the dog turned to lick at his hand. He was able to get about another hour of reading and editing done when he heard the front door open. Loki stood up and full alert and dashed out of the bedroom to investigate the intrusion. "Hey bud," he heard from the hallway and Zayn quickly saved his work and shut his laptop before climbing off the bed. He walked to the entrance and saw Liam crouched on the floor trying to take off his shoes as Loki jumped up on him. "Have you been good for Baba?" Liam looks up at Zayn and he can't help but roll his eyes. They may not have real kids yet but Liam treated Loki more like his child than anyone he's ever met before with a dog.

"He was perfectly fine," Zayn said as Liam finally stood up so Zayn could kiss him. "Probably a lot happier now that his _Daddy_ is back. I'm the boring one." 

Liam chuckled and picked Loki up and carried him into the living room and sat back on the couch. "You've never been boring, love," he said as Loki curled up into Liam's lap. "You're just the smart one in his relationship. I never even finished my schooling and here you are about to become a doctor." 

"And you're about to retire and you'll _still_ make more money than I ever will," Zayn said as he sat down next to Liam. "I see a flaw in this system." They joked with each other some more, when Zayn decided to bring up the article he had read. "So Sugarscape posted an article about the retirement," he said. "Of course, they brought up the pregnancy rumors with Niall and Pez, but they gave me an idea about changing my name if we get married. How intimidating would it be to have a class be taught by someone named Dr. Payne?" 

Liam tilted his head to the side and Zayn was scared he may have crossed the line about bringing up the marriage thing. He knows Liam has left hints here and there, mostly in interviews, but this was the closest they've come to talking about it just between the two of them. "You would want to change your name?" he asked. He didn't sound put off at the idea, more of just honest curiosity. 

Zayn shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno," he replied. "It's not like I'm apart of the Malik family anymore. I'd be better off changing my name to Tomlinson than keeping Malik but I dunno. I really haven't given it much thought." 

And that was the last they talked about it for over a month. Zayn was just glad it didn't make anything awkward between them, even if he still always had marriage on his mind now. He knew he was just as capable of asking Liam to marry him, he may be the primary bottom but he was hardly close to being "girly", but deep down, he kind of was hoping for Liam to ask him. Maybe it was because he was self-conscious. They had been in a serious, loving, _successful_ relationship for over five years now, but Liam didn't identify as gay. It was silly, because obviously Liam's sexuality never affected their relationship, but Zayn still hoped that Liam would be the one to take that step to show that he was truly committed to this.

Liam came home one day after a meeting with Syco about the band's "farewell" concert and told him that his family was going to be coming to London for Zayn's graduation. Zayn was thrilled, he pretty much fell in love with Liam's family right away but they had only grown closer as the years went on, especially with his mother, and they had really become his second family. His first being Jay and the girls, of course. He was excited that they would be there along with everyone else he cared about and was filled with overall relief that he was finally _done_. His final paper was done and turned in and he already had his cap and gown to walk in just a few days. He had finally done it. He had a job lined up the following fall working at _Oxford_ and he and Liam had been having a house built out there for both of them. It was a huge fucking honor to be able be considered for a job there at all, and Liam was still close enough to London that he could travel there for any business that might occur in the near future. Plus, Zayn knew it wouldn't be too long before he missed Louis and Pez and would want to come visit London himself.

Things were all coming together so perfectly that Zayn didn't even have time to think about marriage. The day of his graduation, Zayn was felt his nerves starting to get to him. He knew that somewhere out in the sea of people, Liam, Louis, Perrie, Harry, Niall and both Louis and Liam's families, for some reason, knowing they'd all be watching him made him nervous as hell. He couldn't really believe he was where he was. He was about to graduate with a _PhD_ and he had all of these wonderful people here to support him. He couldn't believe just how lucky he was.

When they called his name, man, that was a sweet moment. Graduating from Uni the first time around was pretty wicked, but it felt nothing like this did. When they handed him his diploma, he became a fucking _doctor_ and it kind of made goose pimples spread across his entire body. He could hear his friends and family cheering for him, Liam and the boy's especially. He waved at them to get them to calm down, no one needs to read a headline about One Direction getting kicked out of a graduation ceremony. 

After the entire ceremony was over, Zayn went to go find everyone who came out to see him. He spotted Harry first since he was the tallest and easiest to find out of a crowd, and then his eyes landed on Liam whose own eyes reflected pure love and pride. Liam picked him up off the floor and swung him around a bit, making Zayn laugh as he held onto him for dear life. He placed a kiss against Zayn's lips and told him how proud he was of him. Before Zayn could even think of a response, he was being pulled away into a hug with Louis and Pez. It went that way from there. Before he really thank the person who was hugging him, he was swept away into another pair of arms. 

The ended up at the same restaurant that Liam had taken him for his twenty-first birthday and somehow, they managed to all fit in the same room as before, even though it was a tad crowded. Even so, it was perfect because everyone he loved was sitting there at the same table. After they had their dinner, Liam stood up to get everyone's attention and Zayn's eyebrow arched in confusion. "Everyone," he said as everyone stopped their own conversations and turned to face Liam. "I'm just really happy that everyone was able to be here today to celebrate this new chapter is Zayn's life. I'm so proud of him and I know all of you are, too. I have loved watching how much this man has grown over the past five years which without a doubt have been the five best years of my life which is saying something considered how blessed I've been in life. Everything became better once Zayn came into my life and I hope to never spend a day without him for the rest of my life." Zayn's heart was already beating quickly at this point, but when he saw Liam drop to his knee, his eyes went wide and he swore his heart literally burst through his chest. He brought his hand to his mouth as he watched Liam pulling out a small black box, pulled up the top and revealed a ring nestled inside. He could hear everyone else in the room gasp as Liam looked Zayn straight in the eyes, with a stupid grin on his face. "Zayn Malik," he said. "Will you marry me?" 

Zayn nodded his head quickly and said _yes_ because really, was there ever a chance he'd say no? Liam slipped the ring on his finger and as soon as he was standing up again, Zayn was on his feet with his arms around the man's neck and pulling him close. Zayn's life has been filled with so many ups and downs, but ever since Liam came into his life, his life had been skyrocketing up with no sign of returning to Earth. He felt so blessed to be where he was right in this moment. Surrounded by all of his family and friends, graduated with a job on the horizon, and with the best man he could ever have hoped for. After a tear-filled round of hugs and all of the females pulling at his hand in order to see the ring, Liam pulled out his phone and Zayn couldn't help but roll his eyes. He snapped a picture of Zayn's hand, ring resting on the digit and instantly brought up the Twitter app on his phone. A minute later, Zayn's phone buzzed with a notification and he couldn't help but smile when he read Liam's new tweet. 

**@Real_Liam_Payne:** He said yes :))))))) @zaynmalik 

The picture of his hand was attached to it and already it received a ridiculous amount of likes and retweets but right now, Zayn could hardly care about that. He owed Twitter a lot, but all he cared about at that moment was the people around him and the man he was so stupidly in love with. Everything else could wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be just a long one-shot fic, but I decided to break it up into chapters to keep updates quicker or else I'd be writing this and trying to rush and not getting as good of a product. Each chapter will hopefully be around 1.5-3k words long if all goes according to plan and as of right now, I don't know how long it is going to be but I have most of it mapped out. Please let me know what you think!


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